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I 


NARRATIVE 

EXPEDITION  TO  THE  ZAMBESI 

AND  ITS  TEIBUTARIES; 


AND  OF  THE   DISCOVEHY  OF  THE  LAKES  SHIRWA 
AND  NYAHSA. 


1858— 18W. 
Bv  DAVID  AUD  CHARLES  LIVINOSTONB. 


WITK  MAP  AND  ILLUBTBATIONS. 

LONDON : 

JOHN    MUllKAY,    ALBEirAllLE    STREET. 

1805. 

/Kd  r^U  uf  ntuulatiok  u  rwrrvJ. 


/ 


« 


ft\ 


ro 


THE  RIGHT  HON.  lORD  PALMERSTON, 


K.U..  GCB. 


My  Lord, 


I    beg   leave    to    dedicate    this    Volume    to   your 


Lordship,  as  a  tribute  justly  due  to  the  great  Statesman  who 
has  ever  had  at  heart  the  amelioration  of  the  African  race; 

and  as  a  token  of  admiration  of  the  beneficial  effects  of 
that  policy  which  he  has  so  long  laboured  to  establish  on  the 
West  Coast  of  A£ri<» ;  and  which,  in  improving  that  region, 
has  most  forcibly  shown  the  need  of  some  similar  system  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  Continent. 


DAVID  LIVINGSTONE. 


PREFACE. 


It  has  been  my  object  in  this  work  to  give  as  clear  an 
account  as  I  was  able  of  tracts  of  country  previously  unex- 
plored, with  their  river  systems^  natural  productions,  and 
capabilities;  and  to  bring  before  my  countrymen,  and  all 
others  interested  in  the  cause  of  humanity,  the  misery  entailed 
by  the  slave-trade  in  its  inland  phases ;  a  subject  on  which 
I  and  my  companions  are  the  first  who  have  had  £uiy  oppor- 
tunities of  forming  a  judgment.  The  eight  years  spent  in 
Africa,  siAce  my  last  work  was  published,  have  not,  I  fear, 
improved  my  power  of  writflig  English;  but  I  hope  that, 
whatever  my  descriptions  want  in  clearness,  or  literary  skill, 
may  in  a  measure  be  compensated  by  the  novelty  of  the 
scenes  described,  and  the  additional  information  afforded  on 
that  curse  of  Africa,  and  that  shame,  even  now,  in  the 
19th  century,  of  an  European  nation, — ^the  slave-trade. 

I  took  the  "  Lady  Nyassa"  to  Bombay  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  selling  her,  and  might  without  any  difficulty  have 
done  so ;  but  with  the  thought  of  parting  with  her  arose,  more 
strongly  than  ever,  the  feeling  of  disiaclination  to  abandon 
the  East  Coast  of  Africa  to  the  Portuguese  and  slave-trading, 
and  I  determined  to  run  home  and  consult  my  friends  before 
I  allowed  the  little  vessel  to  pass  from  my  hands.  After, 
therefore,  having  put  two  Ajawa  lads  to  school  under  the 
eminent  Missionary  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wilson,  and  having  pro- 
vided satisfactorily  for  the  native  crew,  I  started  homewards 

with  the  three  white  sailors,  and  reached  London  July  20th, 

b 


VI  PREFACE. 

1864.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webb,  my  much-loved  friends,  vn-ote 
to  Bombay  inviting  me,  in  the  event  of  my  coming  to  Eng- 
land, to  make  Newstead  Abbey  my  headquarters,  and  on 
my  arrival  renewed  their  invitation:  and  though,  when 
I  accepted  it,  I  had  no  intention  of  remaining  so  long 
with  my  kind-hearted  generous  friends,  I  stayed  with  them 
until  April,  1865,  and  under  their  roof  transcribed  fix)m  my 
own  and  my  brother's  journal  the  whole  of  this  present  book. 
It  is  with  heartfelt  gratitude  I  would  record  their  unwearied 
kindness.  My  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Webb  began  in  Africa, 
where  he  was  a  daring  and  successful  hunter,  and  his  con- 
tinued friendship  is  most  valuable,  because  he  has  seen 
missionary  work,  and  he  would  not  accord  his  respect  and 
esteem  to  me  had  he  not  believed  that  I,  and  my  brethren 
also,  were  to  be  looked  on  as  honest  men  earnestly  trying 
to  do  our  duty. 

The  Government  have  supported  the  proposal  of  the  Eoyal 
Geographical  Society  made  by  my  friend  Sir  Roderick  Mur^ 
chison,  and  have  united  with  that  body  to  aid  me  in  another 
attempt  to  open  Africa  to  civilizing  influences,  and  a  valued 
private  friend  has  given  a  thousand  pounds  for  the  same  object. 
I  propose  to  go  inland,  north  of  the  territory  which  the  Por- 
tuguese in  Europe  claim,  and  endeavour  to  commence  that 
system  on  the  East  which  has  been  so  eminently  successful 
on  the  West  Coast ;  a  system  combining  the  repressive  efforts 
of  H.M.  cruisers  with  lawful  trade  and  Christian  Missions — 
the  moral  and  material  results  of  which  have  been  so  grati- 
fying. I  hope  to  ascend  the  Eovuma,  or  some  other  river 
North  of  Cape  Delgado,  and,  in  addition  to  my  other  work, 
shall  strive,  by  passing  along  the  Northern  end  of  Lake 
Nyassa  and  round  the  Southern  end  of  Lake  Tanganyika,  to 
ascertain  the  watershed  of  that  part  of  Africa.  In  so  doing, 
I  have  no  wish  to  imsettle  what  with  so  much  toil  and  danger 


POSTSCRIPT  TO  PREFACE.  vii 

'was  accomplished  by  Speke  and  Grants  but  rather  to  confirm 
their  illustrious  discoveries. 

I  have  to  acknowledge  the  obliging  readiness  of  Lord 
Bussell  in  lending  me  the  drawings  taken  by  the  artist  who 
was  in  the  first  instance  attached  to  the  Expedition.  These 
sketches,  with  photographs  by  Charles  Livingstone  and  Dr. 
Kirk,  have  materially  assisted  in  the  illustrations.  I  would 
also  very  sincerely  thank  my  friends  Professor  Owen  and 
Mr.  Oswell  for  many  valuable  hints  and  other  aid  in  the 
preparation  of  this  volume. 

New$tead  Abbey, 
April  16, 1866. 


POSTSCBIPT  TO  PREFACE. 


The  credit  which  I  was  fain  to  award  to  the  Lisbon 
statesmen  for  a  sincere  desire  to  put  an  end  to  the  slave- 
trade,  is,  I  regret  to  find,  totally  undeserved.  They  have 
employed  one  Mens.  Lacerda,  to  try  to  extinguish  the  facts 
adduced  by  me  before  the  meeting  of  the  "  British  Associa- 
tion  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,'*  at  Bath,  by  a  series 
of  papers  in  the  Portuguese  OflBcial  Journal ';  and  their 
Minister  for  Foreign  Aflfairs  has  since  devoted  some  of 
the  funds  of  his  Government  to  the  translation  and  circula- 
tion of  Mons.  Lacerda's  articles  in  the  form  of  an  English 
tract.  Nothing  is  more  conspicuous  in  this  official  document 
than  the  extreme  ignorance  displayed  of  the  geography 
of  the  country  of  which  they  pretend  that  they  possess 
not  only  the  knowledge,  but  also  the  dominion.  A  vague 
rumour,  cited  by  some  old  author,  about  two  marshes  below 
Murchison's  Cataracts,  is  considered    conclusive    evidence 

I  2 


viii  POSTSCRIPT  TO  PREFACK 

that  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Senna,  a  viUage  on  the 
Zambesi,  found  no  difficulty  in  navigating  the  Shire  to 
Lake  Nyassa  up  what  modem  travellers  find  to  be  an 
ascent  of  1200  feet  in  35  miles  of  latitude.  A  broad 
shallow  lake,  with  a  strong  current,  which  Senhor  Candido 
declared  he  had  visited  N.W,  of  Tette,  is  assumed  to  be 
the  narrow  deep  Lake  Nyassa,  without  current^  and  about 
N.N.E.  of  the  same  point.  Great  offence  is  also  taken 
because  the  discovery  of  the  main  sources  of  the  Nile  has 
been  ascribed  to  Speke  and  Grant,  instead  of  to  Ptolemy 
and  F.  Lobo. 

But  the  main  object  of  the  Portuguese  Government  is  not 
geographical.  It  is  to  bolster  up  that  pretence  to  power 
which  has  been  the  only  obstacle  to  the  establishment  of 
lawful  commerce  and  friendly  relations  with  the  native 
inhabitants  of  Eastern  Africa.  The  following  work  contains 
abundant  confirmation  of  all  that  was  advanced  by  me  at  the 
Bath  meeting  of  the  British  Association ;  and  I  may  here 
add  that  it  is  this  unwarranted  assumption  of  power  over 
1360  miles  of  coast — ^from  English  Kiver  to  Cape  Delgado, 
where  the  Portuguese  have  in  fact  little  real  authority 
— which  perpetuates  the  barbarism  of  the  inhabitants. 
The  Portuguese  interdict  all  foreign  commerce,  except  at 
a  very  few  points  where  they  have  estabUshed  custom- 
houses,  and  even  at  these,  by  an  exaggerated  and  obstructive 
tariff  and  differential  duties,  they  completely  shut  out  the 
natives  from  any  trade,  except  that  in  slaves. 

Looking  from  South  to  North,  let  us  glance  at  the  enor- 
mous seaboard  which  the  Portuguese  in  Europe  endeavour  to 
make  us  believe  belongs  to  them.  Delagoa  Bay  has  a  small 
fort  called  Lorenzo  Marques,  but  nothing  beyond  the  walls. 
At  Lihambane  they  hold  a  small  strip  of  land  by  sufferance 
of  the  natives.    Sofala  is  in  ruins,  and  from  QuiUimane  north- 


K)STSCRIPT  TO  PREFACE.  ix 

Vards  for  690  mQes,  they  have  only  one  small  stockade, 
protected  by  an  armed  launch  in  the  mouth  of  the  Birer 
Angoxa  to  prevent  foreign  vessels  from  trading  there.  Then 
at  Mosambique  they  have  the  little  island  on  which  the  fort 
«tandSy  and  a  strip  about  three  miles  long  on  the  mainland, 
on  which  they  have  a  few  farms,  which  are.  protected  &om 
hostility  (mly  by  paying  the  natives  an  annual  tribute,  which 
they  call  ''having  the  blacks  in  their  pay."  The  settlement 
has  long  been  declining  in  trade  and  impOTtance.  It  is  gar* 
risoned  by  a  few  hundred  sickly  soldiers  shut  up  in  the  fort, 
and  even  with  a  small  coral  island  near  can  hardly  be  called 
secure*  On  the  island  of  Oibo,  or  Iboe,  an  immense  number 
of  slaves  are  collected,  but  there  is  little  trade  of  any  kind. 
At  Fomba  Bay  a  small  fort  was  made,  but  it  is  very  doubtful 
whether  it  still  exists;  the  attempt  to  form  a  settlement 
there  having  entirely  failed.  They  pay  tribute  to  the  Zulus, 
for  the  lands  they  cultivate  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Zambesi ;  and  the  general  effect  of  the  pretence  to  power 
and  obstruction  to  commerce,  is  to  drive  the  independent 
native  chiefs  to  the  Arab  dhow  slave-trade,  as  the  only  one 
open  to  them. 

It  is  well  known  to  the  English  Government,  from  reh'able 
documents  at  the  Admiralty  and  Foreign  Office,  that  no 
longer  ago  than  November,  1864,  two  months  after  my 
speech  was  delivered  at  Bath,  when  the  punishment  of  the 
perpetrators  of  an  outrage  on  the  crew  of  the  cutter  of  BLM.S. 
*'Lyra,"  near  a  river  45  miles  S.W.  of  Mosambique,  was 
demanded  by  H.M.S.  "  Wasp,"  at  Mosambique,  the  present 
Grovemor-General  declared  that  he  had  no  power  over  the 
natives  there.  They  have  never  been  subdued,  and  being  a 
fine  energetic  race,  would  readily  enter  into  commercial 
treaties  with  foreigners,  were  it  not  for  the  false  assertion 
of  power  by  which  the  Portuguese,  with  the  tacit  consent  of 

b  3 


X  POSTSCBIPT  TO  PREFACE. 

European  Goyemments,  shut  them  out  from  commeroe  and 
every  civilizmg  influence. 

This  Portuguese  pretence  to  dominion  is  the  curse  of 
the  negro  race  on  the  East  Coast  of  Africa,  and  it  would 
soon  fall  to  the  ground,  were  it  not  for  the  moral  support  it 
derives  from  the  respect  paid  to  it  by  our  own  flag.  The 
Emperor  Napoleon  HE.  disregarded  it  in  the  case  of  the 
"  Charles  et  Georges,"  while  only  by  the  aid  of  English  sailors 
has  the  Government  o£  Mosambique,  <m  more  than  one 
occasion,  been  saved  from  being  overturned.  Our  squadron 
on  the  East  Coast  costs  over  70,0002L  a  year,  and,  by  our 
acquiescence  in  the  sham  sovereignty  of  the  Portuguese,  we 
effect  only  a  partial  suppression  of  the  slave-trade,  and 
none  of  the  commercial  benefits  which  have  followed  direct 
dealing  with  the  natives  on  the  West  Coast.  A  new  law  for 
the  abolition  of  slavery  has  been  proposed  by  the  Eang  of 
Portugal ;  but  it  inspires  me  with  no  confidence,  as  no  means 
have  ever  been  taken  to  put  similar  enactments  already 
passed  into  execution,  and  we  can  only  view  this  as  a  new 
bid  for  still  further  acquiescence  in  a  system  which  per- 
petuates barbarism.  Mens.  Lacerda  has  unwittingly  shown, 
by  his  eager  advocacy,  that  the  real  sentiments  of  his 
employers  are  decidedly  proHslavery.  The  great  fact  that 
the  Americans  have  rid  themselves  of  the  incubus  of  slavery, 
and  will  probably  not  tolerate  the  continuance  of  the 
murderous  slave-trade  by  the  Portuguese  nation,  has  done 
more  to  elicit  their  king's  recent  speech  than  the  opinions  of 
his  ministry. 


CONTENTS. 


INTBODUCTION. 


?A0« 


Hopes  of  the  Authoe.  Failitrb  or  sbaboh  or  PoBTfTOUEtB 
jpoB  Ophib.  Eablt  Catholic  Missions.  Sib  B.  Mubohi- 
son's  theobt.  Lobd  Palkebston'b  pouot.  Objects 
OF  Expedition 1 

• 

CHAPTER  L 

CONOEALMENT   OF  MoUTHS  OF  ZUfBESI  BT  POBTTJOTTESE.     ThE 

Zambesi  and  its  banes.    "Fbsb  Emigbants."    Mariano. 
Senna  and  its  ''one  tibtue,"  Senhob  Febeao.    Majob 

SlOABD  AND  MaKOLOLO.     LuPATA  QOBOS      14 


CHAPTER  11. 

Meet  Makololo.  Supebstitions.  Yoltjntabt  slatebt. 
Tette,  PLAirrs^  goal,  gold,  and  ibon.  Kebbabasa. 
Mobxtmbwa         42 


CHAPTER   IIL 

NaTITB    MUSIOIAISS.       AfBIGAN    FEYEB.       RiYEB    SHIBEy     FIB8T 

ASCENT  OF.    MuBcmsoN's  Catabacts.    Sboond  tbip  tip 
THE  SmBE.   Lake  Shibwa.   Retubn  to  Tettb.   Steameb, 

FAILTJBE  OF 63 


CHAPTER  IV. 

TaiBD  tbip  up  the  Shibb.    Mount  Mobaubala.    Hot  foun- 
tain.     POBTUOUESE    OEOGBAPHIOAL  KNOWLEDGE!      ShIBE 

kabshbs.    Bibds.    Bbaceish  SOIL  AND  COTTON.    Chibisa       87 


CHAPTER  V. 

Manoanja  highlands.     Belief  in  a  Supbemb  Being.    Dis- 

ooTEBT  OF  Lake  Nyasba.    Db.  Boscheb   ..     « 104 


•  • 


xu  ,  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   VI. 

PAOl 

Bbttjbn  to  Ybssel.  Dibbot  boutb  fbom  Chibisa's  to  Tbttb. 
Off  to  Kongonb.  Bbtubn  to  Tbttb.  Baktai  and 
PoBTuouBSB.     Tbttb,  laws  akd  socibtt.     Zulu  tax- 

OATHBBBB8 130 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Stabt  to  takb  Maeololo  hohb.    Nbw  path.    Subybt  or 

Kkbrabaha  oomflbtbd.    Sandia's  bbpoet 155 

CHAPTER   VIIL 
CmooTA.    Nativb  Disoussioks.    Thb  maboh.    "  Thb  fbab  or 

TOTT  AKD  THB  DBBAD  OF  TOU.**  SOLO  AND  DUBT  BT  OUB 
D0NEBT8    174 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Tbttb  obbt  sandstonb  and  goal.    Sagaoitt  of  Elbphant& 

Ants.   Balt-mabino.    African  Ehfiebs.    ISbquasha     •.      184 

CHAPTER  X. 

Zumbo.  Catholic  mibbions,  thbib  failubb.  Feuxts.  ''Smoebs." 

R  Chonowb.    R  Eafub 203 

CHAPTER  XL 
MiBBiON  TO  M08BLBEAT8B.     Thb  Bawb  and  Baenda  pbzl 

BaTOKA  mOHLANDB.  DOGOBD  BT  THE  8LAYB-TBADB.  AT- 
TEMPT TO  SHUT  T7P  THB  ROYUMA.  ElBST  OUMPSB  OF 
MOBI-OA-TUNYA 219 

CHAPTER  XXL 

MOSI-OA-TUNTA 250 

CHAPTER  XIIL 

Sbbyitude  of  intbbiob.    Seeelettt's  lepeost.    Dootbess  and 
DO0T0B8.     Trade  with  west   coast.     Mb.  Helhobe's 

PARTY 262 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Xhb  Maeololo.  Dr.  Livingstone  revisits  Linyantl   Nativb 

DOUBTff  OF  THB  ReSURRBOTION         281 


•  •• 


CONTENTS.  xm 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Paob 

Depabtuss  fboh  Sbshekb.    Kalitnda  akb  Moamba  Falls. 

NATXVB  7BUITB.     €k)LOKaWB.     SlNAMANl       303 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

MOEMBA.      EABIBA    BAPID8.      RaFIDS    OF    EXBBABASA.     ReAOH 

Tbttb- 23bd  NoviBMBBE,  1860 317 


CHAPTER  XVIL 
Down  'Ho  Kongone.    Thb  bnd  op  the  "  Abthmatio."    Kok- 

OOinS  Ain>  THE  MAKOBOYE  SWAMPS  338 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

The  "Piokeeb."    Bishop  Mackenzie.     The  Royuxa.     The 

Shibb.    Slaves  libebated.    The  Ajawa.    Maoombbo  ..      348 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Stabt  again  fob  Ntassa.  Desobiption  of  Lake  and  its 
bhobss.  Hobbobs  of  inland  slaye-tbade.  Mazttu. 
Abab  geogbapht      .. 865 


CHAPTER  XX. 

Napoleon  m.     Abbival  of  H.M.S.  "(xobgon.*  Death  of 

Bishop    Mackenzie    and   of  Mb.  Bubbup.  Reyebend 

J.  Stewabt.    Death  of  Mbs.  Liyingstonb  400 


CHAPTER  XXL 

OONNIYANCE       OF       GOYEBNOB  -  GeNEBAL       IN       SLAYE-TBADE. 

Launch   op   the   "Lady   Nyassa."    [Up  the   Royuha 

AGAIN.     ROOKT  BABRTWR.     ReTUBN  TO  PlONEEB 418 


CHAPTER  XXIL 

Qttillimane.  Retubn  to  Shupanga.  Famine.  The  Bishop's 
GBAYB.  Mb.  Thobnton  :  HIS  death.  Desolatiqn.  Sepa- 
BATION.    Db.  MkIJiBR       445 


XIV  CX)NTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Paos 
StABT    fob    UFFBB    0ATABA0T8    OF    ShIBB.     AfBIOAK    POISONS. 

Bbqall  OF  ExPBDinoK 464 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Cub  English  sailobs.    Entx's  bang^.    Ajawa  migbatioi^s. 
The  Negbo  ttpb.    A  supbbhuman  Instbuctob 481 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

EoTA-KOTA  Bat.  Afmoans  and  Mohammedans.  Afbioan 
bbugion.  Rains.  Inundations.  Climatb.  Watebshed. 
Native  gbogbapht 511 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

Reasons  fob  bbt^bning.    Afbioan  Women,  theib  employ- 
ments        539 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 

Resemblance  of  Afbioan  Huntebs  to  Egyptian  figubes. 

Dialects.    Dibbction  of  wind.   Wet  clothes  and  feyeb     546 

CHAPTER   XXVIIL 

Rest  of  tbopical  tbees.  Bishop  Mackenzie's  successob. 
Abandonment  of  Mission.  Zambesi  in  flood.  Taken 
Ien  tow.    Hubbioane.    Abbiyal  at  Bombay     569 

CHAPTER   XXIX. 

Results  of  Expedition.  Slayb-tbade  a  babbieb  to  all 
PBOGBEss.  The  Afbioan.  Afbioan  stagnation.  Sta- 
tistics OF  SiEBBA  Leone.  Expeditions  and  Settle- 
ments      585 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


1.  Bird's-eye  View  of  the  Oreat  Cataracts  of  the  ZamM       ..      ..       fVxmtispiece, 

2.  Pandanos  or  Screw  Palm,  corered  with  cUmhinf;  plants,  near  the 

Kongone  Canal  of  the  Zambesi        ..      ,.Tho6,  BaineSffi.     lb  face  page  19 

3.  View  of  Mazaro. — Fight  between  Portngaese  and  Rebels  in  the 

distance „  28 

4.  Dance  of  Landeens,  or  Zoloa,  come  to  lift  the  Annaal  Tribute 

from  the  Portngaese  at  Shapanga   . .      . .      Thos.  Bamn^  ft,         „  30 

5.  The  Grave  of  Mrs.  Livingstone  under  the  Baobab-tree,  near  to 

Shupanga  House       »»  31 

6.  The  Ma- Robert  in  the  Zambesi  above  Senna,  with  the  saddle* 

shaped  Hill  Keyramisa  in  the  distance     ..      Thoa.  Bainea,  ft,         »,  34 

7.  Landeens,  or  Znliis,  who  lift  Tribute  of  the  Portuguese  at  Senna, 

exhibiting  War  Exercises Thoe,  Bamet,  ft,         „  36 

8.  Weapons  for  killing  the  Hippopotamus 38 

9.  View  of  a  portion  of  Kebrabasa  Rapids         To  face  page  5S 

10.  Women  with  Water-pots,  listening  to  the  music  of  the  Marimba, 

Sansa,  and  Pan's  Pipes „  63 

1 1.  Mamrira  Cataract,  the  first  or  lowest  of  Murcfaison's  Cataracts  . .          „  78 

12.  African  Fiddle  of  one  String 93 

13.  View  of  Steamer,  Traps,  and  dead  Hippopotamus        95 

14.  Fish-basket 100 

15.  Native  web,  and  Weaver  smoking  the  huge  tobacco-pipe  of  the  country     ..  112 

16.  Blacksmith's  Forge  and  Bellows  of  Goatskin        113 

17.  Pelele,  or  Lip-ring  of  Mangai\ja  Woman      115 

18.  "  Goree,"  or  Slave-stick        125 

19.  Wedding  Procession  at  Tette         ..      ..       Tho$,  Baities,  ft.     lb  face  page  144 

20.  Group  of  Hippopotami 186 

21.  Tunnels  of  Ants .•  188 

22.  Musical  Instruments 237 

23.  Bellows  and  other  Tools       314 

24.  Waist-belt 316 

25.  Gang  of  Captives  met  at  Mbame*s  on  their  way  to  Tette    ..       To  face  page  356 

26.  An  old  Manganja  Woman,  showing  the  Pelele  or  Lip-ring  and  the  tattooing 

in  intei-secting  lines  on  face,  arms,  and  body 394 

27.  Beehiye.    Baskets  employed  by  Women  to  catch  Fish . .      . .       7b  face  page  439 

28.  View  of  Quillimane  and  of  the  «•  Pioneer" 446 

29.  Poisoned  Arrows 466 

30.  Females  Hoeing 499 

31.  Chia  Hand  Net 506 

32.  Manganja  Spears 507 

33.  Woman  grinding 543 

34.  Native  Mill  fOT  grinding  Com     544 

35.  MaiaviBow 557 

Map  to  Illustrate  Dr.  Livingstone's  Travels       At  the  end. 


THE 


ZAMBESI  AND  ITS  TRIBUTARIES. 


INTRODUCTION. 

Objects  of  the  Expedition  —  Portogtiese  Expedition  in  search  of  the  Ophir  of 
King  Solomon  —  India  and  not  Africa  indicated  by  the  merchandise  sought 
— FaHare  in  Sofalla — Second  Portuguese  Expedition  after  gold-mines — 
Bepulsed  by  large  bodies  of  natives  —  Gatholic  Missions  —  Want  of  reliable 
information  regarding  them  —  Erroneous  ideas  as  to  the  interior  of  Africa  — 
Sir  Roderick  Mnrohiaon's  hypothesis  correct — Decrease  of  slaTe-tiade,  and 
increase  of  lawful  commerce  on  West  Goast  owing  to  Lord  Palmerston's 
policy — Fatality  of  the  murderer  attends  the  slave-trader  ~  Opinion  of  Bev. 
J.  L.  Wilson  on  the  slave-trade — The  operations  of  our  cruisers  —  111  effSdots 
of  sealing  up  the  East  Ck>ast  —  Instructions  to  the  Expedition. 

When  first  I  determined  on  publishing  the  narrative  of 
my  '  Missionary  Travels/  I  had  a  great  misgiving  as  to 
whether  the  criticism  my  endeavours  might  provoke  would 
be  friendly  or  the  reverse,  more  particularly  as  I  felt  that  I 
had  then  been  so  long  a  sojourner  in  the  wilderness,  as  to  be 
quite  a  stranger  to  the  British  public.  But  I  am  now  in  this, 
my  second  essay  at  authorship,  cheered  by  the  conviction  that 
very  many  readers,  who  are  personally  unknown  to  me,  will 
receive  this  narrative  with  the  kindly  consideration  and 
allowances  of  iriends;  and  that  many  more,  under  the 
genial  influences  of  an  innate  love  of  liberty,  and  of  a 
desire  to  see  the  same  social  and  religious  blessings  they 
themselves  enjoy,  disseminated  throughout  the  world,  will 
sympathize  with  me  in  the  efforts  by  which  I  have  striven, 

B 


2  INTRODUCTION. 

however  imperfectly,  to  elevate  the  position  and  character  of 
our  fellow-men  in  Africa.  This  knowledge  makes  me  doubly 
anxious  to  render  my  narrative  acceptable  to  all  my  readers ; 
but,  in  the  absence  of  any  excellence  in  literary  composition, 
the  natural  consequence  of  my  pursuits,  I  have  to  offer  only  a 
simple  account  of  a  mission  which,  with  respect  to  the  objects 
proposed  to  be  thereby  accomplished,  formed  a  noble  contrast 
to  some  of  the  earlier  expeditions  to  Eastern  Africa.  I  be- 
lieve that  the  information  it  will  give,  respecting  the  people 
visited  and  the  countries  traversed,  will  not  be  materially 
gainsaid  by  any  future  commonplace  traveller  like  myself, 
who  may  be  blest  with  fair  health  and  a  gleam  of  sunshine 
in  his  breast.  This  account  is  written  in  the  earnest  hope 
that  it  may  contribute  to  that  information  which  will  yet 
cause  the  great  and  fertile  continent  of  Africa  to  be  no  longer 
kept  wantonly  sealed,  but  made  available  as  the  scene  of 
European  enterprise,  and  wiU  enable  it8  people  to  take  a 
place  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  thus  securing  the 
happiness  and  prosperity  of  tribes  now  sunk  in  barbarism  or 
debased  by  slavery ;  and,  above  all,  I  cherish  the  hope  that  it 
may  lead  to  the  introduction  of  the  blessings  of  the  Gk>spel. 

The  first  expedition  sent  to  East  Africa,  after  the  Portu- 
guese had  worked  a  passage  round  the  Cape,  was  instituted 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Government  of  Portugal,  for  the 
purpose,  it  is  believed,  of  discovering  the  land  of  Ophir, 
made  mention  of  in  Holy  Scripture  as  the  country  whence 
King  Solomon  obtained  sandal-wood,  ivory,  apes,  peacocks, 
and  gold.  The  terms  used  by  the  Jews  to  express  the  first 
four  articles  had,  according  to  Max  Miiller,  no  existence  in 
the  Hebrew  language,  but  were  words  imported  into  it  from  the 
Sanscrit  It  is  curious  then,  that  the  search  was  not  directed 
to  the  Coast  of  India, — ^more  particularly  as  Sanscrit  was 


INTRODUCTION.  3 

known  on  the  Malabar  Coast, — and  there  also  peacocks  and 
sandal-wood  are  met  with  in  abundance.  The  Portuguese,  like 
some  others  of  more  modern  times,  were  led  to  believe  that 
So{alIan>ecause  sometimes  pronounced  Zophar  by  the  Arabs, 
from  being  the  lowest  or  most  southerly  port  they  visited, 
was  identical  with  the  Ophir  alluded  to  in  Sacred  History. 

Eastern  Africa  had  been  occupied  from  the  most  remote 
times  by  traders  from  India  and  the  Bed  Sea.  Yasco  da 
Gama,  in  1497-8,  found  them  firmly  established  at  Mosam-  • 
bique,  and,  after  reaching  India,  he  turned  with  longing 
eyes  from  Calicut  towards  Sofalla,  and  actually  visited  it  in 
1502.  As  the  Scriptural  Ophir,  it  was  expected  to  be  the 
most  lucrative  of  all  the  Portuguese  stations;  and,  under 
the  impression  that  an  important  settlement  <*ould  be  esta- 
blished there,  the  Portuguese  conquered,  at  great  loss  of 
both  men  and  money,  the  district  in  which  the  gold-washings 
were  situated ;  but,  in  the  al>8ence  of  all  proper  machinery, 
a  vast  amount  of  labour  returned  so  small  an  amount  of 
gain,  that  they  abandoned  them  in  disgust 

The  next  expedition,  consisting  of  thrfee  ships  and  a 
thousand  men,  mostly  gentlemen  volunteers,  left  Lisbon  in 
1569  for  the  conquest  of  the  gold  mines  or  washings  of  the 
Chief  of  Monomotapa,  west  of  Tette,  and  of  those  in  ManicA, 
still  further  west,  but  in  a  more  southerly  direction  ;  and  also 
to  find  a  route  to  the  west  coast  In  this  last  object  they 
failed;  and  to  this  day  it  has  been  accomplished  by  only 
one  European,  and  that  an  Englishman.  The  expedition 
was  commanded  by  Francisco  Barreto,  and  abundantly  sup- 
plied with  horses,  asses,  camels,  and  provisions.  Ascend- 
ing the  Zambesi  as  far  as  Senna,  they  found  many  Arab 
and  other  traders  already  settled  there,  who  received  the 
straugers    with    great  hospitality.      The    horses,    however, 

b2 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

having  passed  through  a  district  abounding  with  tsetse,  an 
insect  whose  bite  is  fatal  to  domestic  animals,  soon  showed 
the  emaciation  peculiar  to  the  poison;  and  Senna  being 
notoriously  unhealthy,  the  sickness  of  both  men  and  horses 
aroused  Barreto's  suspicion  that  poison  had  been  admini- 
stered by  the  inhabitants,  most  of  whom,  consequently,  he 
put  to  the  sword  or  blew  away  from  his  guns.  Marching 
beyond  Senna  with  a  party  five  hundred  and  sixty  strong,  he 
and  his  men  sufiTered  terribly  from  hunger  and  thirst,  and, 
after  being  repeatedly  assaulted  by  a  large  body  of  natives, 
the  expedition  was  compelled  to  return  without  ever  reaching 
the  gold-mines  which  Barreto  so  eagerly  sought 

Previous  to  this,  however,  devoted  Eoman  Catholic  mis- 
sionaries had  penetrated  where  an  army  could  not  go;  for 
Senhor  Bordalo,  in  his  excellent  Historical  Essays,  mentions 
that  the  Jesuit  father  Gon^alo  da  Silveira  had  already 
suffered  martyrdom  by  coiJlmand  of  the  Chief  of  Monomotapa. 
Indeed,  missionaries  of  that  body  of  Christians  established 
themselves  in  a  vast  number  of  places  in  Eastern  Africa,  as 
the  ruins  of  mission  stations  still  testify ;  but,  not  having  suc- 
ceeded in  meeting  with  any  reliable  history  of  the  labours  of 
these  good  men,  it  is  painful  for  me  to  be  unable  to  contradict 
the  oalumnies  which  Portuguese  writers  still  heap  on  their 
memory.  So  far  as  the  impression  left  on  the  native  mind 
goes,  it  is  decidedly  favourable  to  their  zeal  and  piety ;  while 
the  writers  referred  to  roundly  assert  that  the  missionaries 
engaged  in  the  slave-trade ;  which  is  probably  as  false  as  the 
more  modern  scandals  occasionally  retailed  against  their 
Protestant  brethren.  Philanthropists  sometimes  err  in  ac- 
cepting the  mere  gossip  of  coast  villages  as  facts,  when 
asserting  the  atrocities  of  our  countrymen  abroad  ;  while 
othere,  pretending  to  regard  all  philanthropy  as  weakness, 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

yet  practising  that  silliest  of  all  hypocrisieB,  the  endeayonr 
to  appear  worse  than  they  are,  accept  and  publish  the  mere 
brandy-and-water  twaddle  of  immoral  traders,  against  a  body 
of  men  who,  as  a  whole,  are  an  honour  to  human  kind.  In 
modem  missionary  literature,  now  widely  spread,  we  have  a 
record  which  will  probably  outlive  all  misrepresentation ; 
and  it  is  much  te  be  regretted  that  there  is  no  available 
Catholic  literature  of  the  same  nature,  and  that  none  of  the 
translations  which  may  have  been  made  into  the  native 
tongue  can  now  be  consulted.  We  cannot  believe  that 
these  good  men  would  risk  their  lives  for  the  unholy  gains 
which,  even  were  they  lawfid,  by  the  rules  of  their  order 
they  could  not  enjoy ;  but  it  would  be  extremely  interesting 
to  all  their  successors  to  know  exactly  what  were  the  real 
causes  of  their  failure  in  perpetuating  the  faitL 

In  order  that  the  following  narrative  may  be  clearly  under- 
stood, it  is  necessary  to  call  to  mind  some  things  which  took 
place  previous  to  the  Zambesi  Expedition  being  sent  out 
Most  geographers  are  aware  that,  before  the  discovery  of  Lake 
Ngami  and  the  well  watered  country  in  which  the  Makololo 
dwell,  the  idea  prevailed  that  a  large  part  of  the  interior  of 
Africa  consisted  of  sandy  deserts,  into  which  rivers  ran  and 
were  lost.  During  my  journey  in  1852-6,  fix)m  sea  to  sea, 
across  the  south  intertropical  part  of  the  continent,  it  was 
found  to  be  a  well  watered  country,  with  large  tracts  of 
fine  fertile  soil  covered  with  forest,  and  beautiful  grassy 
valleys,  occupied  by  a  considerable  population ;  and  one  of 
the  most  wonderftil  waterfalls  in  the  world  was  brought 
to  b'ght  The  peculiar  form  of  the  continent  was  then 
ascertained  to  be  an  elevated  plateau,  somewhat  depressed 
in  the  centre,  and  with  fissures  in  the  sides  by  which  the 
rivers  escaped  to  the  sea;  and  this  great  fact  in  physical 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

geography  can  never  be  referred  to  without  calling  to  mind 
the  remarkable  hypothesis  by  which  the  distingm'shed  Presi- 
dent of  the  Boyal  Geographical  Society  (Sir  Roderick  I. 
Murchison)  clearly  indicated  this  pecnliarity,  before  it  was 
verified  by  actual  observation  of  the  altitudes  of  the  country 
and  by  the  courses  of  the  rivers.  New  light  was  thrown  on 
other  portions  of  the  continent  by  the  famous  travels  of 
Dr.  Barth,  by  the  researches  of  the  Church  of  England 
Missionaries  Krapf,  Erkhardt,  and  Rebman,  by  the  persever- 
ing efforts  of  Dr.  Baikie,  the  last  martyr  to  the  climate  and 
English  enterprise,  by  the  journey  of  Francis  Gfilton,  and 
by  the  most  interesting  discoveries  of  Lakes  Tanganyika  and 
Victoria  Nyanza  by  Captain  Burton,  and  by  Captain  Speke, 
whose  untimely  end  we  all  so  deeply  deplore.  Then  followed 
the  researches  of  Van  der  Decken,  Thornton,  and  others; 
and  last  of  all  the  grand  discovery  of  the  main  source  of  the 
Nile,  which  every  Englishman  must  feel  an  honest  pride  in 
knowing  was  accomplished  by  our  gallant  countrymen, 
Speke  and  Grant.  The  fabulous  torrid  zone,  of  parched  and 
burning  sand,  was  now  proved  to  be  a  well  watered  r^on 
resembling  North  America  in  its  fresh-water  lakes,  and 
India  in  its  hot  humid  lowlands,  jungles,  ghauts,  and  cool 
highland  plains. 

In  our  exploration  the  chief  object  in  view  was  not 
to  discover  objects  of  nine  days'  wonder,  to  gaze  and  be 
gazed  at  by  barbarians ;  but  to  note  the  climate,  the  natural 
productions,  the  local  diseases,  the  natives  and  their  relation 
to  the  rest  of  the  world ;  all  which  were  observed  with  that 
peculiar  mterest  which,  as  regards  the  ftiture,  the  first  white 
man  cannot  but  feel  in  a  continent  whose  history  is  only  just 
beginning.  When  proceeding  to  the  West  Coast,  in  order 
to  find  a  path  to  the  sea  by  which  lawAil  commerce  might 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

be  introduced  to  aid  missionary  operations,  it  was  quite 
striking  to  observe,  several  hundreds  of  miles  from  the 
ocean,  the  very  decided  influence  of  that  which  is  known 
as  Lord  Palmerston's  policy.  Piracy  had  been  abolished,  and 
the  slave-trade  so  far  suppressed,  that  it  was  spoken  of  by 
Portuguese,  who  had  themselves  been  slav^traders,  as  a  thing 
of  the  past  LawM  commerce  had  increased  from  an  annual 
total  of  20,000t  in  ivory  and  gold-dust,  to  between  two  and 
three  millions,  of  which  one  million  was  in  palm  oil  to  our 
own  country.  Over  twenty  Missions  had  been  established, 
with  schools,  in  which  more  than  twelve  thousand  pupils  were 
taught.  Life  and  property  were  rendered  secure  on  the  Coast, 
and  comparative  peace  imparted  to  millions  of  people  in  the 
interior,  and  all  this  at  a  time  when,  by  the  speeches  of  influ- 
ential men  in  England,  the  world  was  given  to  understand 
that  the  English  cruisers  had  done  nothing  but  aggravate  the 
evils  of  the  slave-trade.  It  is  so  reasonable  to  expect  that 
self-interest  would  induce  the  slave-trader  to  do  his  utmost  to 
preserve  the  lives  by  which  he  makes  his  gains,  that  men 
yielded  ready  credence  to  the  plausible  theory;  but  the 
atrocious  waste  of  human  life  was  just  as  great  when  the 
slave-trade  was  legal;  it  always  has  been,  and  must  be, 
marked  by  the  want  of  foresight  characteristic  of  the  mur- 
derer.  Every  one  wonders  why  he,  who  has  taken  another's 
life,  did  not  take  this,  that,  or  the  other  precaution  to  avoid 
detection ;  and  every  one  may  well  wonder  why  slave-traders 
have  always,  by  over-crowding  and  all  its  evils,  acted  so 
much  in  direct  opposition  to  their  own  interests,  but  it  is 
the  fatality  of  the  murderer ;  the  loss  of  life  from  this  cause, 
simply  baffles  exaggeration. 

On  this  subject  the  opinion  of  the  Bev.  J.  L.  Wilson,  a 
most  intelligent  American  Missionary,  who  has  written  by 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

far  the  ablest  work  on  the  West  Coast  that  has  yet  appeared, 
is  worth  a  host  He  declares  that  the  efforts  of  the  English 
Government  are  worthy  of  all  praise.  Had  it  not  been  for 
the  cruisers,  and  especially  those  of  England,  Africa  would 
still  have  been  inaccessible  to  missionary  labour ;  ^  and  it  is 
devoutly  to  be  hoped,"  he  adds,  "  that  these  noble  and  dis- 
interested measures  may  not  be  relaxed  until  the  foul  demon 
be  driven  away  from  the  earth."  The  slave-trade  is  the 
greatest  obstacle  in  existence  to  civilization  and  commercial 
progress;  and  as  the  English  are  the  most  philanthropic 
people  in  the  world,  and  will  probably  always  have  the 
largest  commercial  stake  in  the  African  continent,  the  policy 
for  its  suppression  in  every  possible  way  shows  thorough 
wisdom  and  foresight. 

When,  in  pursuit  of  the  same  object,  the  East  Coast  was 
afterwards  reached,  it  was  found  sealed  up.  Although  praise- 
worthy efforts  had  been  made  by  Her  Majesty's  cruisers, 
yet  in  consequence  of  foreigners  being  debcurred  from 
entering  the  country,  neither  traders  nor  missionaries  had 
established  themselves.  The  trade  was  still  only  in  a 
little  ivory,  gold-dust,  and  slaves,  just  as  it  was  on  the  West 
Coast,  before  Lord  Palmerston's  policy  came  into  operation 
there.  It  was,  however,  subsequently  discovered  that  the 
Portuguese  Government  professed  itself  willing,  nay  anxious, 
to  let  the  country  be  opened  to  the  influences  of  civilization 
and  lawful  commerce — ^indeed  it  could  scarcely  be  otherwise, 
seeing  that  not  a  grain  of  benefit  ever  accrued  to  Portugal  by 
shutting  it  up ; — and  the  Zambesi,  a  large  river,  promised 
to  be  a  fine  inlet  to  the  highlands  and  interior  generally; 
the  natives  were  agricultural,  and  all  fond  of  trading;  the 
soil  was  fertile — indigo,  cotton,  tobacco,  sugar-cane,  and  other 
articles  of  value,  were  already  either  cultivated  or  growing 


INTRODUCTION.  0 

wild.  It  seemed,  therefore,  that  if  this  region  could  be 
opened  to  lawful  commerce  and  Christian  Missions,  it  would 
have  the  effect  of  aiding  or  supplementing  our  cruisers  in 
the  same  way  as  bad  been  done  by  the  missionaries  and 
traders  on  the  West  Coast,  and  that  an  inestimable  service 
would  be  thereby  rendered  to  Africa  and  Europe. 

The  main  object  of  the  Zambesi  Expedition,  as  our  instruc- 
tions from  Her  Majesty's  Glovemment  explicitly  stated,  was 
to  extend  the  knowledge  already  attained  of  the  geography 
and  mineral  and  agricultural  resources  of  Eastern  and  Cen- 
tral Africa — to  improve  our  acquaintance  with  the  inhabi- 
tantSy  and  to  endeavour  to  engage  them  to  apply  themselves 
to  industrial  pursuits  and  to  the  cultivation  of  their  lands, 
with  a  view  to  the  production  of  raw  material  to  be  exported 
to  England  in  return  for  British  manufactures;  and  it  was 
hoped,  that,  by  encouraging  the  natives  to  occupy  themselves 
in  the  development  of  the  resources  of  the  country,  a  con- 
siderable advance  might  be  made  towards  the  extinction  of 
the  slave-trade,  as  they  would  not  be  long  in  discovering 
that  the  former  would  eventually  be  a  more  certain  source 
of  profit  than  the  latter.  The  Expedition  was  sent  in  ac- 
cordan^ce  with  the  settled  policy  of  the  English  Government ; 
and  the  Earl  of  Clarendon,  being  then  at  the  head  of  the 
Foreign  Office,  the  Mission  was  organized  under  his  imme- 
diate care.  When  a  change  of  Government  ensued,  we 
experienced  the  same  generous  countenance  and  sympathy 
from  the  Earl  of  Malmesbury,  as  we  had  previously  received 
from  Lord  Clarendon ;  and,  on  the  accession  of  Earl  Bussell 
to  the  high  office  he  has  so  long  filled,  we  were  always 
favoured  with  equally  ready  attention  and  the  same  prompt 
assistance.  Thus  the  conviction  was  produced  that  our  work 
embodied  the  principles,  not  of  any  one  party,  but  of  the 


10  INTRODUCTION.  -     . 

hearts  of  the  statesmen  and  of  the  people  of  England 
generally.  The  Expedition  owes  great  obligations  to  the 
Lords  of  the  Admiralty  for  their  nnyarying  readiness  to 
render  us  every  assistance  in  their  power ;  and  to  the  warm- 
hearted and  ever-obliging  hydrographer  to  the  Admiralty, 
the  late  Admiral  Washington,  as  a  subordinate,  but  most 
effective  agent,  our  heartfelt  gratitude  is  also  due ;  and  we 
must  ever  thankfully  acknowledge  that  our  efiSciency  was 
mainly  due  to  the  kind  services  of  Admirals  Sir  Frederick 
Grey,  Sir  Baldwin  Walker,  and  all  the  naval  officers  serving 
under  them  on  the  East  Coast  Nor  must  I  omit  to  record 
our  obligations  to  Mr.  Skead,  R.N.  The  Luawe  was  carefully 
sounded  and  surveyed  by  this  officer,  whose  skilful  and 
zealous  labours,  both  on  that  river,  and  afterwards  on  the 
Lower  Zambesi,  were  deserving  of  all  praise. 

Li  speaking  of  what  has  been  done  by  the  Expedition,  it 
should  always  be  understood  that  Dr.  Eirk,  Mr.  Charles 
Livingstone,  Mr.  B.  Thornton,  and  others  composed  it.  Li 
using  the  plural  number  they  are  meant,  and  I  wish  to 
bear  testimony  to  the  untiring  zeal,  energy,  courage,  and 
perseverance  with  which  my  companions  laboured  ;  undaunted 
by  difficulties,  dangers,  or  hard  fare.  It  is  my  firm  belief 
that,  were  their  services  required  in  any  other  capacity,  they 
might  be  implicitly  relied  on  to  perform  their  duty  like 
men.  The  reason  why  Dr.  Kirk^s  name  does  not  appear  on 
the  title-page  of  this  narrative  is,  because  it  is  hoped  that 
he  may  give  an  account  of  the  botany  and  natural  history 
of  the  Expedition  in  a  separate  work  from  his  own  pen.  He 
collected  above  four  thousand  species  of  plants,  specimens  of 
most  of  the  valuable  woods,  of  the  different  native  manufstc- 
tures,  of  the  articles  of  food,  and  of  the  different  kinds  of 
cotton  from  every  spot  we  visited,  and  a  great  variety  of  birds 


INTRODUCTION.  11 

and  insects;  besides  making  mete(m>logical  observations^ 
and  affording,  as  our  instructions  required,  medical  assist- 
ance to  the  natives  in  every  case  where  he  could  be  of 
any  use. 

Charles  Livingstone  was  also  fully  occupied  in  his  duties 
in  following  out  the  general  objects  of  our  misBion,  in  en- 
couraging the  culture  of  cotton,  in  mftlring  many  magnetic 
and  meteorological  observations,  in  photographing  so  long  as 
the  materials  would  serve,  and  in  collecting  a  large  number  of 
birds,  insects,  and  other  objects  of  interest  The  collections, 
being  Grovernment  property,  have  been  forwarded  to  the 
British  Museum,  and  to  the  Boyal  Botanic  Gkodens  at  Eew ; 
and,  should  Dr.  Eirk  undertake  their  description,  three  or 
four  years  will  be  required  for  the  purpose. 

Though  collections  were  made,  it  was  always  distinctly 
understood  that,  however  desirable  these  and  our  explora- 
tions might  be,  ^  Her  Majesty's  Government  attached  more 
importance  to  the  moral  influence  that  might  be  exerted  on  the 
minds  of  the  natives  by  a  well  regulated  and  orderly  household 
of  Europeans  setting  an  example  of  consistent  moral  conduct 
to  all  who  might  witness  it ;  treating  the  people  with  kindness, 
and  relieving  their  wants,  teaching  them  to  make  experi- 
ments in  agriculture,  explaining  to  them  the  more  simple 
arts,  imparting  to  them  religious  instruction  as  far  as  they 
are  c^>able  of  receiving  it,  and  inculcating  peace  and  good 
will  to  each  othet." 

It  would  be  tiresome  to  enumerate  in  detail  all  the  little 
acts  which  were  performed  by  us  while  following  out  our  in- 
structions. As  a  rule,  whenever  the  steamer  stopped  to  take 
in  wood,  or  for  any  other  purpose,  Dr.  Kirk  and  Charles 
Livingstone  went  ashore  to  their  duties:  one  of  our  party, 
who   it  was  intended  should  navigate  the  vessel  and  lay 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

down  the  geographical  positions,  having  failed  to  answer 
the  expectations  formed  of  him,  these  duties  fell  chiefly  to 
my  share.  They  involved  a  considerable  amount  of  night 
work,  in  which  I  was  always  cheerfully  aided  by  my  com- 
panions, and  the  results  were  regularly  communicated  to  our 
warm  and  ever-ready  friend,  Sir  Thomas  Maclear  of  the 
Royal  Observatory,  Cape  of  Grood  Hope.  While  this  work 
was  going  through  the  press,  we  were  favoured  with  the 
longitudes  of  several  stations  determined  from  observed 
occultations  of  stars  by  the  moon,  and  from  eclipses  and 
reappearances  of  Jupiter's  satellites,  by  Mr.  Mann,  the  able 
Assistant  to  the  Cape  Astronomer  Boyal ;  the  lunars  are  still 
in  the  hands  of  Mr.  G.  W.  H.  Maclear  of  the  same  Observa- 
tory. In  addition  to  these,  the  altitudes,  variation  of  the 
compass,  latitudes  and  longitudes,  as  calculated  on  the 
spot,  appear  in  the  map  by  Mr.  Arrowsmith,  and  it  is 
hoped  may  not  differ  much  from  the  results  of  the  same 
data  in  abler  hands.  The  ofiSce  of  "skipper,"  which, 
rather  than  let  the  Expedition  come  to  a  stand,  I  under- 
took, required  no  great  ability  in  one  "not  too  old  to 
leean :  **  it  saved  a  salary,  and,  what  was  much  more  valu- 
able than  gold,  saved  the  Expedition  from  the  drawback 
of  any  one  thinking  that  he  was  indispensable  to  its  further 
progress.  The  office  required  attention  to  the  vessel  both  at 
rest  and  in  motion.  It  also  involved  considerable  exposure 
to  the  sun;  and  to  my  regret  kept  me  from  much  antici- 
pated intercourse  with  the  natives,  and  the  formation  of 
full  vocabularies  of  their  dialects. 

I  may  add  that  all  wearisome  repetitions  are  as  much 
as  possible  avoided  in  the  narrative;  and,  our  movements 
and  operations  having  previously  been  given  in  a  series  of 
despatches,  the  attempt  is  now  made  to  give  as  fairly  as 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

possible  just  what  would  most  strike  any  person  of  ordinary 
intelligence  in  passing  through  the  country.  For  the  sake 
of  the  freshness  which  usually  attaches  to  first  impressions, 
the  Journal  of  Charles  Livingstone  has  been  incorporated 
in  the  narrative ;  and  many  remarks  made  by  the  natives, 
whicli  he  put  down  at  the  moment  of  translation,  will 
convey  to  others  the  same  ideas  as  they  did  to  ourselves. 
Some  are  no  doubt  trivial ;  but  it  is  by  the  little  acts  and 
words  of  every-day  life  that  character  is  truly  and  best 
known.  And  doubtless  many  will  prefer  to  draw  their 
own  conclusionn  from  them  rather  than  to  be  schooled 
by  us. 


14  REACH  THE  COAST.  Chap.  1. 


CHAPTEE  I. 

Beach  the  Coast — Explore  Riyer  Lnawe— Months  of  Zambesi  —  Concealed  to 
deceiye  English  crnisers — The  deception  palmed  off  on  European  €k)yein- 
ments  by  Ministers  in  Portugal  —  0£Scial  testimony  —  Kongone — Scenery 
on  the  riyer — Fertility  of  Delta  soil — Colonos  or  serfs  —  Deep  channel  of 
riyer — Land  luggage  on  Expedition  Island — Country  in  a  state  of  war — 
••  Free  emigrants"  —  Atrocities  of  Mariano  —  Meet  so-called  "  rebels  "  —  A 
fight  between  natiyes  and  Portuguese  —  An  army  waiting  for  ammunition — 
Birds  and  beasts  met  with  on  the  riyer — Mazaro — The  reshipment  of 
merchandise  there  for  QuiUimane  —  Shupanga — Zulu  dominion  on  right 
bank  of  Zambesi  —  Tribute  paid  by  the  Portuguese  —  Senna  and  Senhor 
Ferrfto  —  Seguati  or  present  —  Hippopotamus  hunters  —  Peculiarity  of 
Baobab-trees — Lupata  gorge. 

The  Expedition  left  England  on  the  lOth  of  March,  1858, 
in  Her  Majesty's  Colonial  Steamer  **  Pearl,"  commanded  by 
Captain  Doncan;  and,  after  enjoying  the  generous  hospi- 
tality of  our  friends  at  Cape  Town,  with  the  obliging  atten- 
tions of  Sir  George  Grey,  and  receiving  on  board  Mr.  Francis 
Skead,  R.N.,  as  surveyor,  we  reached  the  East  Coast  in  the 
following  May. 

Our  first  object  was  to  explore  the  Zambesi,  its  mouths 
and  tributaries,  with  a  view  to  their  being  used  as  highways 
for  commerce  and  Christianity  to  pass  into  the  vast  interior  of 
Africa.  When  we  came  within  five  or  six  miles  of  the  land,  the 
yellowish-green  tinge  of  the  sea  in  soundings  was  suddenly 
succeeded  by  muddy  water  with  wrack,  as  of  a  river  in  flood. 
The  two  colours  did  not  intermingle,  but  the  line  of  contact 
was  as  sharply  defined  as  when  the  ocean  meets  the  land. 
It  was  observed  that  under  the  wrack — consisting  of  reeds. 


Chap.  1.  THE  RIVER  LUAWE,  15 

sticks,  and  leayes, — and  even  under  floating  cuttlefish  bones 
and  Portuguese  '^  men-of-war'*  (PhTsalia),  numbers  of  small 
fish  screen  themselves  from  the  eyes  of  birds  of  prey,  and 
from  the  ravs  of  the  torrid  sun. 

The  coast  is  low  and  covered  with  mangrove  swamps, 
among  which  are  sandy  patches  clothed  with  gross,  crt^oping 
plants,  and  stunted  palma  The  land  trends  nearly  east  and 
west^  without  any  notable  feature  to  guidf^  the  navigator, 
and  it  is  difficult  to  make  out  the  river's  mouth;  but  the 
water  shoals  gradually,  and  each  fathom  of  lessening  depth 
marks  about  a  mile. 

We  entered  tlie  River  Luawe  first,  because  its  entrance* 
is  80  smooth  aud  deep,  that  the  "Pearl,"  drawing  9  feet  7 
inches,  went  in  without  a  boat  sounding  ahead.  A  small 
steam  launch  having  been  brought  out  from  England  in 
three  sections  on  the  deck  of  the  "Pearl"  was  hoisted  out 
and  screwed  together  at  the  anchorage,  and  with  her  aid 
the  exploration  was  commenced.  She  was  called  the  "  Ma 
Robert,**  after  Jtfrs.  Livingstone,  to  whom  the  natives,  accord- 
ing to  their  custom,  gave  the  name  Ma  (mother)  of  her 
eldest  soa  The  harbour  is  deep,  but  shut  in  by  mangrove 
swamps ;  and  though  the  water  a  few  miles  up  is  fresh,  it 
is  only  a  tidal  river ;  for,  after  ascending  some  seventy  miles, 
it  was  found  to  end  in  marshes  blocked  up  with  reeds  and 
succulent  aquatic  plants.  As  the  Luawe  had  been  called 
'*  West  Luabo,"  it  was  supposed  to  be  a  branch  of  the  Zam- 
besi, the  main  stream  of  which  is  called  "  Luabo,"  or  "  East 
Luabo."  The  "  Ma  Robert "  and  "  Pearl"  then  went  to  what 
proved  to  be  a  real  mouth  of  the  river  we  sought. 

The  Zambesi  pours  its  water  into  the  ocean  by  four 
mouths,  namely,  the  Milambe,  which  is  the  most  westerly 
the    Kongone,   the   Luabo,  and  the  Timbwe   (or  Muselo). 


16 


DECEPTION  TO  ENGLISH  CUUISERS. 


Chap.  I. 


When  the  riyer  is  in  flood,  a  natural  canal  running  parallel 
with  the  coast,  and  winding  very  much  among  tlie  swamps, 
forms  a  secret  way  for  conyeying  slaves  from  Quillimane  to 
the  bays  Massangano  and  Nameara,  or  to  the  Zambesi  it8el£ 
The  Ewakwa,  or  riyer  of  Quillimane,  some  sixty  miles  distant 
from  the  mouths  of  the  Zambesi,  has  long  been  represented 
as  the  principal  entrance  to  the  Zambesi,  in  order,  as  the 
Portuguese  now  maintain,  that  the  English  cruisers  might 
be  induced  to  watch  the  false  mouth,  while  slayes  were 
quietly  shipped  from  the  true  one ;  and  strange  to  say  this 
error  has  lately  been  propagated  by  a  map  issued  by  the 
colonial  minister  of  Portugal.* 


*  Stranger  still,  the  Portugaeee  of- 
ficial paper,  '*Aimae8  do  Conselho 
Ultramarinho  *'  for  1864  sbamelesalj 
asserts  that  **  in  that  harbour  (Kon- 
gone),  which  Dr.  livingstone  says  he 
discovered,  many  vessels  with  slaves 
have  taken  refuge  from  the  persecu- 
tions of  English  cruisers."  This  (shall 
we  admit?)  was  known  to  the  Por- 
tuguese Government  1  Would  any 
other  gentleman  in  Europe  construct 
a  maap  such  as  that  mentioned  in  the 
text,  and  send  it  to  the  English  Go- 
vernment as  showing  the  true  mouth 
of  the  Zambesi  ?  We  did  not  think  of 
printing  the  fbUowing  letter  from  one 
Portuguese  official  to  another  in  Africa, 
till  we  saw  the  poor  swagger  of  the 
Lisbon  official  paper,  evidently  in- 
tended for  other  statesmen  in  Europe. 
The  editor  of  a  Oape  paper  says— 

"  Chevalier  Dupiat  has,  by  the  same 
opportunity,  received  a  communication 
from  the  Portuguese  governor  of  Tette, 
of  which  the  following  is  a  translation : 

'  Sir, — When  in  the  middle  of  last 
year,  was  delivered  to  me  by  the  hands 
of  Dr.  Livingstone,  the  letters  with 


which  your  Excellency  honoured  me, 
under  date  of  April  of  that  same  year, 
I  was  at  that  moment  involved  in  war 
with  the  Kafirs  of  the  district  of  Senna. 
After  this,  other  works,  affiurs  and 
ailing  health,  prevented  me  firom  im- 
mediately addressing  to  your  Excel- 
lency my  thanks  fqf  the  kind  expres- 
sions with  which  I  have  been  honoured 
by  you.  Your  Excellency  recom- 
mended to  me  the  iUustrious  Dr. 
Livingstone.  My  relations  with  this 
gentleman  are  so  sympathetic  that  I 
can  never  omit  rendering  him  the  ser- 
vices which  he  requires,  and  which  are 
within  my  reach.  Still,  my  wishes 
are  subordinate  to  my  powers,  both 
as  an  individual  and  as  an  authority. 
I  am  aware  how  profitable  to  geo- 
graphical knowledge  and  science  are 
the  explorations  of  the  Doctor,  as  weU 
as  to  the  prosperity  of  this  oountiy, — 
as  rich  as  neglected.  I  sincerely  hope 
it  wiU  be  in  my  power  to  help  him  as 
I  could  wish.  Nevertheless,  I  assure 
your  ExceUency  that  I  wiU  serve  him 
as  far  as  lies  in  my  power.  It  is  said 
that  our  (jk)vemment  is  about  to  es- 


Chap.  I. 


OFFICIAL  TESTIMONF. 


17 


After  the  examiDation  of  three  branches  by  the  able 
and  energetic  surveyor,  Francis  Skead,  R.N.,  the  Eongone 
was  found  to  be  the  best  entrance.  The  immense  amount 
of  sand  brought  down  by  the  Zambesi  has  in  the  course  of 
ages  formed  a  sort  of  promontory,  against  which  the  long 
swell  of  the  Indian  Ocean,  beating  during  the  prevailing 
winds,  has  formed  bars,  which,  acting  against  the  waters 
of  the  delta,  may  have  led  to  their  exit  sideways.  The 
Eongone  is  one  of. these  lateral  branches,  and  the  safest; 
inasmuch  as  the  bar  has  nearly  two  fathoms  on  it  at  low 
water,  and  the  rise  at  spring  tides  is  from  twelve  to  fourteen 
feet.  The  bar  is  narrow,  the  passage  nearly  straight,  and, 
were  it  buoyed  and  a  beacon  placed  on  Pearl  Island, 
would  always  be  safe  to  a  steamer.  When  the  wind  is  from 
the  east  or  north,  the  bar  is  smooth;  if  from  the  south 
and  south-east,  it  has  a  heavy  break  on  it,  and  is  not  to 
be  attempted  in  boats.  A  strong  current  setting  to  the  east 
when  the  tide  is  flowing,  and  to  the  west  when  ebbing, 
may  drag  a  boat  or  ship  into  the  breakers.  If  one  is 
doubtful  of  his  longitude  and  runs  east,  he  will  soon  see  the 
land  at  Timbwe  disappear  away  to  the  north ;  and  coming 


iabliah  a  post  at  the  bar  of  Luabo  ; 
and  from  there  to  carry  on  direct  navi- 
gation to  this  district  Should  this 
take  place,  great  advantages  will  re- 
sult to  this  country,  and  to  Living- 
stone's great  glory,  because  he  was 
the  first  who  passed  over  from  the  sea 
by  this  way  of  communication.  I 
thank  your  Excellency  for  the  news- 
papers with  which  you  fumislied  me. 
I  appreciate  them  as  articles  which 
very  seldom  appear  here.  Your  Ex- 
cellency also  obliged  me  with  some 
seeds;  but,  unfortunately,  I  was  at 
Mosambiqac,  and  having  planted  them 


this  year,  they  produced  little ;  I  fear 
they  were  already  old.  My  capability 
for  service  is  very  limited,  but  if  your 
Excellency  thinks  that  I  can  be  of  any 
use,  I  shall  be  most  gratified. 
•Ihave,&c.» 

*  Tito  A.  d'A.  Sicard, 

Oovemor  of  Teite. 

•  Tette,  July  9,  1859.' 

**  These  letters  were  brought  to  Natal 
by  H.M/s  brig  *  Persian,*  which  had 
called  there  from  Mosambique  for 
supplies,  and  were  put  on  board  the 
*  Waldensian,*  as  she  steamed  out." 

0 


18  THE  KONGONE.  Chap.  I. 

west  again,  he  can  easfly  make  out  East  Luabo  from  its  great 
size ;  and  Kongone  follows  seven  miles  west.  East  Luabo  has 
a  good  but  long  bar,  and  not  to  be  attempted  unless  the  wind 
be  north-east  or  east.  It  has  sometimes  been  called  "  Barra 
Catrina,"  and  was  used  in  the  embarkations  of  slaves.  This 
may  have  been  the  "Eiver  of  Good  Signs,"  of  Vasco  da 
Gama,  as  the  mouth  is  more  easily  seen  from  the  seaward 
than  any  other ;  but  the  absence  of  the  pillar  dedicated  by 
that  navigator  to  "  St.  Eaphael,"  leaves  the  matter  in  doubt. 
No  Portuguese  live  within  eighty  miles  of  any  mouth  of  the 
Zambesi.  The  names  given  by  the  natives  refer  more  to 
the  land  on  each  side  than  to  the  streams;  thus,  one  side 
of  the  Kongone  is  Nyamisenga,  the  other  Nyangalule ;  and 
Kongone,  the  name  of  a  fish,  is  applied  to  one  side  of  the 
natural  canal  which  leads  into  the  Zambesi  proper,  or  Cuama, 
and  gives  the  port  its  value. 

When  a  native  of  the  temperate  north  first  lands  in  the 
tropics,  his  feelings  and  emotions  resemble  in  some  respects 
those  which  the  First  Man  may  have  had  on  his  entrance 
into  the  Garden  of  Eden.  He  has  set  foot  in  a  new  world, 
another  state  of  existence  is  before  him ;  everything  he  sees, 
every  sound  that  falls  upon  the  ear,  has  all  the  freshness  and 
charm  of  novelty.  The  trees  and  the  plants  are  new,  the 
flowers  and  the  fruits,  the  beasts,  the  birds,  and  the  insects 
are  curious  and  strange ;  the  very  sky  itself  is  new,  glowing 
with  colours,  or  sparkling  with  constellations,  never  seen  in 
northern  climes. 

The  Kongone  is  five  miles  east  of  the  Milambe,  or  western 
branch,  and  seven  miles  west  from  East  Luabo,  which  again  is 
five  miles  from  the  Timbwe.  We  saw  but  few  natives,  and 
these,  by  escaping  from  their  canoes  into  the  mangrove 
thickets  the  moment  they  caught  sight  of  us,  gave  unmis- 


Chap.  I.       SCENERY  ON  THE  KONGONE.  19 

takeable  indications  that  they  had  no  yeiy  favoarable 
opinion  of  white  men.  They  were  probably  ftigitives  from 
Portuguese  slavery.  In  the  grassy  glades  buffaloes,  wart- 
hogSy  and  three  kinds  of  antelope  were  abundant,  and  the 
latter  easily  obtained.  A  few  hours'  hunting  usually  pro- 
Tided  venison  enough  for  a  score  of  men  for  several  days. 

On  proceeding  up  the  Kongone  branch  it  was  found  that, 
by  keeping  well  in  the  bends,  which  the  current  had  worn 
deep,  shoals  were  easily  avoided.  The  first  twenty  miles  are 
straight  and  deep ;  then  a  small  and  rather  tortuous  natural 
canal  leads  off  to  the  right,  and,  after  about  five  miles,  during 
which  the  paddles  almost  touch  the  floating  grass  of  the 
sides,  ends  in  the  broad  Zambesi.  The  rest  of  the  Eongono 
branch  comes  out  of  the  main  stream  considerably  higher 
up  as  the  outgoing  branch  called  Doto. 

The  first  twenty  miles  of  the  Kongone  are  enclosed  in 
mangrove  jungle;  some  of  the  trees  are  ornamented  with 
orchiUa  weed,  which  appears  never  to  have  been  gathered. 
Huge  ferns,  palm  bushes,  and  occasionally  wild  date- 
palms  peer  out  in  the  forest,  which  consists  of  different 
species  of  mangroves ;  the  bunches  of  bright  yellow,  though 
scarcely  edible  fruit,  contrasting  prettily  with  the  graceM 
green  leaves.  In  some  spots  the  Milola,  an  umbrageous 
hibiscus,  with  large  yellowish  flowers,  grows  in  masses  along 
the  bank.  Its  bark  is  made  into  cordage,  and  is  especially 
valuable  for  the  manufacture  of  ropes  attached  to  harpoons 
for  killing  the  hippopotamus.  The  Pandanus  or  screw- 
palm,  from  which  sugar-bags  are  made  in  the  Mauritius, 
also  appears,  and  on  coming  out  of  the  canal  into  the 
Zambesi  many  are  so  tall  as  in  the  distance  to  remind  us  of 
the  steeples  of  our  native  land,  and  make  us  relish  the 
remark  of  an  old  sailor,  "  that  but  one  thing  was  wanting  to 

0  2 


20  FERTILITY  OF  SOIL.  Chap.  I. 

complete  the  picture,  and  that  was  '  a  grog-shop  near  the 
church.' "  We  find  also  a  few  guava  and  lime-trees  growing 
wild,  but  the  natives  claim  the  crops.  The  dark  woods  resoimd 
with  the  lively  and  exultant  song  of  the  kinghunter  {Halcyon 
striohta),  as  he  sits  perched  on  high  among  the  trees.  As 
the  steamer  moves  on  through  the  winding  channel,  a  pretty 
little  heron  or  bright  kingfisher  darts  out  in  alarm  from  the 
edge  of  the  bank,  flies  on  ahead  a  short  distance,  and  settles 
quietly  down  to  be  again  frightened  ofif  in  a  few  seconds 
as  we  approach.  The  magnificent  fishhawk  (HcUtetus  vocifer) 
sits  on  the  top  of  a  mangrove-tree,  digesting  his  morning 
meal  of  fresh  fish,  and  is  clearly  unwilling  to  stir  until  the 
imminence  of  the  danger  compels  him  at  last  to  spread  his 
great  wings  for  flight.  The  glossy  ibis,  acute  of  ear  to  a  re- 
markable degree,  hears  from  afar  the  unwonted  sound  of  the 
paddles,  and,  springing  from  the  mud  where  his  family  has 
been  quietly  feasting,  is  ofi*,  screaming  out  his  loud,  harsli, 
and  defiant  Ha !  ha !  ha !  long  before  the  danger  is  near. 

The  mangroves  are  now  left  behind  and  are  succeeded  by 
vast  level  plains  of  rich  dark  soil,  covered  with  gigantic 
grasses,  so  tall  that  they  tower  over  one's  head,  and  render 
hunting  impossible.  Beginning  in  July  the  grass  is  burned 
off  every  year  after  it  has  become  dry.  These  fires  prevent 
the  growth  of  any  great  amoimt  of  timber,  as  only  a  few  trees 
from  among  the  more  hardy  kinds,  such  as  the  Borassus-palm 
and  lignum-vitse,  can  live  through  the  sea  of  fire,  which 
annually  roars  across  the  plains. 

Several  native  huts  now  peep  out  from  the  bananas  and 
cocoa-palms  on  the  right  bank;  they  stand  on  piles  a  few 
feet  above  the  low  damp  ground,  and  their  owners  enter  them 
by  means  of  ladders.  The  soil  is  wonderfully  rich,  and  the 
gardens  are  really  excellent.    Eice  is  cultivated  largely; 


Chap.  I.  '^COLONOS,-  OR  SERFS.  21 

sweet  potatoes,  pumpkins,  tomatoes,  cabbages,  onions  (sha- 
lots),  peas,  a  little  cotton,  and  sugar-cane  are  also  raised. 
It  is  said  that  English  potatoes,  when  planted  at  Quillimane 
on  soil  resembling  this,  in  the  course  of  two  years  become 
in  taste  like  sweet  potatoes  (convolvulus  batatas),  and  are  like 
our  potato  frosted.  The  whole  of  the  fertile  region  extending 
from  the  Kongone  canal  to  beyond  Mazaro,  some  eighty 
miles  in  length,  and  fifty  in  breadth,  is  admirably  adapted  for 
the  growth  of  sugar-cane;  and  were  it  in  the  hands  of  our 
friends  at  the  Cape,  would  supply  all  Europe  with  sugar. 
The  remarkably  few  people  seen  appeared  to  be  tolerably 
well  fed,  but  there  was  a  shivering  dearth  of  clothing 
among  them ;  all  were  blacks,  and  nearly  all  Portu- 
guese "  colonos "  or  serfs.  They  manifested  no  fear  of 
white  men,  and  stood  in  groups  on  the  bank  gazing 
in  astonishment  at  the  steamers,  especially  at  the  "  Pearl," 
which  accompanied  us  thus  far  up  the  river.  One  old 
man  who  came  on  board  remarked  that  never  before  had 
he  seen  any  vessel  so  large  as  the  "Pearl,**  it  was  like  a 
village,  "Was  it  made  out  of  one  tree?"  All  were  eager 
traders,  and  soon  came  off  to  the  ship  in  light  swift  canoes 
with  every  kind  of  fruit  and  food  they  possessed;  a  few 
brougbt  honey  and  beeswax,  which  are  found  in  quantities  in 
the  mangrove  forests.  As  the  ships  steamed  off,  many 
anxious  sellers  ran  along  the  bank,  holding  up  fowls,  baskets 
of  rice  and  meal,  and  shouting  "  Malonda,  Malonda,"  "  things 
for  sale,"  while  others  followed  in  canoes,  which  they  sent 
through  the  water  with  great  velocity  by  means  of  short 
broad-bladed  paddles. 

The  deep  channel,  or  Qwete  as  the  canoe-men  call  it, 
of  the  Zambesi  is  winding,  and  narrow  when  con- 
trasted with  the   great  breadth  of  the  river  itself.     The 


22  DEEP  CHANNEL  OF  RIVER.  Chap.  T. 

river  bottom  appears  to  be  a  succession  of  immense  sub- 
merged sandbanks,  having,  when  the  stream  is  low,  from 
one  to  four  feet  of  water  on  them.  The  main  channel  runs 
for  some  distance  between  the  sandbank  and  the  river's 
bank,  with  a  depth  in  the  dry  season  varying  from  five  to 
fifteen  feet,  and  a  current  of  nearly  two  knots  an  hour.  It 
then  turns  and  flows  along  the  lower  edge  of  the  sandbank 
in  a  diagonal  direction  across  the  river,  and  continues  this 
process,  winding  from  bank  to  bank  repeatedly  during  the 
day's  sail,  making  expert  navigators  on  the  ocean  feel  help- 
lessly at  sea  on  the  river.  On  these  crossings  the  channel 
is  shallowest.  It  is  in  general  pretty  clearly  defined.  In 
cahn  weather  there  is  a  peculiar  boiling  up  of  its  water 
from  some  action  below.  With  a  light  breeze  the  Qwete 
assumes  a  characteristic  ripple,  and  when  the  wind  freshens 
and  blows  up  the  river,  as  it  usually  does  from  May  to 
November,  the  waves  on  it  are  larger  than  those  of  other 
parts  of  the  river,  and  a  line  of  small  breakers  marks  the 
edge  of  the  shoal-bank  above. 

Finding  the  "Pearl's"  draught  too  great  for  that  part 
of  the  river  near  the  island  of  Simbo,  where  the  branch 
called  the  Doto  is  given  off  to  the  Kongone  on  the  right 
bank,  and  another  named  Ghinde  departs  to  the  secret 
canal  already  mentioned  on  the  left,  the  goods  belonging 
to  the  expedition  were  taken  out  of  her,  and  placed  on 
one  of  the  grassy  islands  about  forty  miles  from  the  bar. 
The  "  Pearl "  then  left  us,  and  we  had  to  part  with  our  good 
friends  Duncan  and  Skead ;  the  former  for  Ceylon,  the 
latter  to  I'etum  to  his  duties  as  Government  Surveyor  at 
the  Cape. 

Of  those  who  eventually  did  the  work  of  the  expedition  the 
majority  took  a  sober  common-sense  view  of  the  enterprise 


Chap.  I.  EXPEDITION  ISLAND.  23 

in  which  we  were  engaged.  Some  remained  on  Expedition 
Island  from  the  18th  June  until  the  13th  August,  whfle  the 
launch  and  pinnace  were  carrying  the  goods  up  to  Shupanga 
and  Senna.  The  country  was  in  a  state  of  war,  our  luggage 
was  in  danger,  and  several  of  our  party  were  exposed  to 
disease  from  inactivity  in  the  malaria  of  the  Delta.  Here 
some  had  their  first  introduction  to  African  life,  and  African 
fever.  Those  alone  were  safe  who  were  actively  employed 
with  the  vessels,  and  of  course,  remembering  the  perilous 
position  of  their  fellows,  they  strained  every  nerve  to  finish 
the  work  and  take  them  away.  This  was  the  time,  too,  for 
the  feeble-minded  to  make  a  demand  for  their  Sundays  of 
rest  and  full  meal-hours,  which  even  our  crew  of  twelve 
Kroomen,  though  tampered  with,  had  more  sense  and  good- 
feeling  than  to  endorse.  It  is  a  pity  that  some  people  cannot 
see  that  the  true  and  honest  discharge  of  the  common  duties 
of  every-day  life  is  Divine  Service. 

The  weather  was  delightful,  with  only  an  occasional  shower 
or  cold  foggy  morning.  Those  who  remained  on  the  island 
made  the  most  of  their  time,  taking  meteorological  and 
magnetical  observations,  and  botanizing,  so  far  as  the  dried 
vegetation  would  allow.  No  one  seemed  to  place  much 
reliance  on  the  "  ofiicial  report "  of  two  naval  commanders, 
who  now,  after  about  b  fortnight's  experience  in  the  Zambesi, 
solemnly  declared  it  to  be  ''  more  like  an  inland-sea  than  a 
river,  with  a  cUmate  like  that  of  Italy,  and  infinitely  more 
healthy  than  any  river  on  the  West  Coast:"  but,  by  the 
leader's  advice,  each  began  to  examine  and  to  record  his 
observations  for  himself,  and  did  not  take  even  his  chiefs 
previous  experience  as  infallible. 

Large  columns  of  smoke  rose  daily  from  difierent  points 
of  the  horizon,  showing  that  the  natives  were  burning  off  the 


24.  BURNING  OFF  THE  GRASS.  Chap.  I. 

immense  crops  of  tall  grass,  here  a  nuisance,  however  valuable 
elsewhere.  A  white  cloud  was  often  observed  to  rest  on 
the  head  of  the  column,  as  if  a  current  of  hot  damp  air 
was  sent  up  by  the  heat  of  the  flames  and  its  moisture  was 
condensed  at  the  top.  Bain  did  not  follow,  though  theorists 
have  imagined  that  in  such  cases  it  ought. 

Large  game,  bufGoJoes,  and  zebras,  were  abundant  abreast 
the  island,  but  no  men  could  be  seen.  On  the  mainland, 
over  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river,  we  were  amused  by  the 
eccentric  gyrations  and  evolutions  of  flocks  of  small  seed- 
eating  birds,  who  in  their  flight  wheeled  into  compact 
columns  with  such  military  precision  as  to  give  us  the 
impression  that  they  must  be  guided  by  a  leader,  and 
all  directed  by  the  same  signal.  Several  other  kinds  of 
small  birds  now  go  in  flocks,  and  among  others  the  large 
Senegal  swallow.  The  presence  of  this  bird,  being  clearly  in 
a  state  of  migration  from  the  north,  while  the  common 
swallow  of  the  country,  and  the  brown  kite  are  away  beyond 
the  equator,  leads  to  the  conjecture  that  there  may  be  a 
double  migration,  namely,  of  birds  from  torrid  climates  to  the 
more  temperate,  as  this  now  is,  as  well  as  from  severe 
winters  to  sunny  regions ;  but  this  could  not  be  verified  by 
such  birds  of  passage  as  ourselves. 

On  reaching  Mazaro,  the  mouth  of  a  narrow  creek  which 
in  floods  commimicates  with  the  Quillimane  river,  we  found 
that  the  Portuguese  were  at  war  with  a  half-caste  named 
Mariano  alias  Matakenya,  from  whom  they  had  generally 
fled,  and  who,  having  built  a  stockade  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Shire,  owned  all  the  country  between  that  river  and 
Mazaro.  Mariano  was  best  known  by  his  native  name  Mata- 
kenya, which  in  their  tongue  means  "  trembling,"  or  quiver- 
ing as  trees  do  in  a  storm.     He  was  a  keen  slave-hunter,  and 


Chap.  I.  ATROCITIES  OF  MARIANO.  .25 

kept  a  large  number  of  men,  well  armed  with  muskets.  It 
is  an  entire  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  slave-trade  is  one  of 
buying  and  selling  alone ;  or  that  engagements  can  be  made 
with  labourers  in  Africa  as  they  are  in  India ;  Slariano,  like 
other  Portuguese,  had  no  labour  to  spare.  He  had  been  in 
the  habit  of  sending  out  armed  parties  on  slave  hunting- 
forays  among  the  helpless  tribes  to  the  north-e&st,  and 
carrying  down  the  kidnapped  victims  in  chains  to  Quilli- 
mane,  where  they  were  sold  by  his  brother-in-law  Cruz 
Coimbra,  and  shipped  as  **  Free  emigrants "  to  the  French 
island  of  Bourbon.  So  long  as  his  robberies  and  murders 
were  restricted  to  the  natives  at  a  distance,  the  authorities 
did  not  interfere ;  but  his  men,  trained  to  deeds  of  violence 
and  bloodshed  in  their  slave  forays,  naturally  began  to 
practise  on  the  people  nearer  at  hand,  though  belonging 
to  the  Portuguese,  and  even  in  the  village  of  Senna,  under 
the  guns  of  the  fort.  A  gentleman  of  the  highest  standing 
told  us  that,  while  at  dinner  with  his  family,  it  was  no  un- 
common event  for  a  slave  to  rush  into  the  room  pursued 
by  one  of  Mariano's  men  with  spear  in  hand  to  murder  him. 

The  atrocities  of  this  villain,  aptly  termed  by  the  late 
governor  of  Quillimane  a  "  notorious  robber  and  murderer," 
became  at  length  intolerable.  AU  the  Portuguese  spoke  of 
him  as  a  rare  monster  of  inhumanity.  It  is  unaccountable 
why  half-castes,  such  as  he,  are  so  much  more  cruel  than 
the  Portuguese,  but  such  is  undoubtedly  the  case. 

It  was  asserted  that  one  of  his  favourite  modes  of  creating 
an  impression  in  the  country,  and  making  his  name  dreaded, 
was  to  spear  his  captives  with  his  own  hands.  On  one 
occasion  he  ■  is  reported  to  have  thus  killed  forty  poor 
wretches  placed  in  a  row  before  him.  We  did  not  at  first 
credit  these  statements,  and  thought  that  they  were  merely 


26  CONTACT  WITH  THE  « KEBELS."  Chap.  I. 

exaggerations  of  the  iueensed  Portuguese,  who  naturally 
enough  were  exasperated  with  him  for  stopping  their  trade, 
and  harbouring  their  runaway  slaves ;  but  we  learned  after- 
wards from  the  natives,  that  the  accounts  given  us  by  the 
Portuguese  had  not  exceeded  the  truth ;  and  that  Mariano 
was  quite  as  great  a  ruffian  as  they  had  described  him. 
One  expects  slave-owners  to  treat  their  human  chattels  as 
well  as  men  do  other  animals  of  value,  but  the  slave-trade 
seems  always  to  engender  an  unreasoning  ferocity,  if  not 
bloodthirstiness. 

War  was  declared  against  Mariano,  and  a  force  sent  to  take 
him ;  he  resisted  for  a  time ;  but  seeing  that  he  was  likely  to 
get  the  worst  of  it,  and  knowing  that  the  Portuguese  gover- 
nors have  small  salaries,  and  are  therefore  "disposed  to  be 
reasonable,"  he  went  down  to  QuiUimane  to  "  arrange  "  with 
the  Governor,  as  it  is  termed  here;  but  Colonel  da  Silva 
put  him  in  prison,  and  then  sent  him  for  trial  to  Mosambique* 
When  we  came  into  the  country,  his  people  were  fighting 
under  his  brother  Bonga.  The  war  had  lasted  six  months 
and  stopped  all  trade  on  the  river  during  that  period.  On 
the  15th  June  we  first  came  into  contact  with  the  **  rebels." 
They  appeared  as  a  crowd  of  well-armed  and  fantastically- 
dressed  people  under  the  trees  at  Mazaro.  On  explaining 
that  we  were  English,  some  at  once  came  on  board  and  called 
to  those  on  shore  to  lay  aside  their  arms.  On  landing  among 
them  we  saw  that  many  had  the  branded  marks  of  slaves 
on  their  chests,  but  they  warmly  approved  our  objects,  and 
knew  well  the  distinctive  character  of  our  nation  on  the 
slave  question.  The  shout  at  our  departure  contrasted 
strongly  with  the  suspicious  questioning  on  our  approach. 
Henceforth  we  were  recognised  as  friends  by  both  parties. 

At  a  later  period  we  were  taking  in  wood  within  a  mile  of 


Chap.  I.    FIGHT  BETWEEN  NATIVES  AND  PORTUGUESE,     27 

the  scene  of  action,  but  a  dense  fog  prevented  our  hearing  the 
noise  of  a  battle  at  Mazaro ;  and  on  arriving  there,  imme- 
diately after,  many  natives  and  Portuguese  appeared  on  the 
bank. 

Dr.  Livingstone,  landing  to  salute  some  of  his  old 
friends  among  the  latter,  found  himself  in  the  sickening 
smell,  and  among  the  mutilated  bodies  of  the  slain ;  he  was 
requested  to  take  the  Governor,  who  was  very  ill  of  fever, 
across  to  Shupanga,  and  just  as  he  gave  his  assent,  the  rebels 
renewed  the  fight,  and  the  balls  began  to  whistle  about  in 
all  directions.  Aft^r  trying  in  vain  to  get  some  one  to  assist 
the  Governor  down  to  the  steamer,  and  unwilling  to  leave 
him  in  sucli  danger,  as  the  officer  sent  to  bring  our  Eroomen 
did  not  appear,  he  went  into  the  hut,  and  dragged  along  his 
Excellency  to  the  ship.  Ho  was  a  very  tall  man,  and  as  he 
swayed  hither  and  thither  from  weakness,  weighing  down 
Dr.  Livingstone,  it  must  have  appeared  like  one  drunken  man 
helping  another.  Some  of  the  Portuguese  white  soldiers 
stood  fighting  with  great  bravery  against  the  enemy  in 
front,  while  a  few  were  coolly  shooting  at  their  own  slaves 
for  fleeing  into  the  river  behind.  The  rebels  soon  retired, 
and  the  Portuguese  escaped  to  a  sandbank  in  the  2iambesi, 
and  thence  to  an  island  opposite  Shupanga,  where  they  lay  for 
some  weeks,  looking  at  the  rebels  on  the  mainland  opposite. 
This  state  of  inactivity  on  the  part  of  the  Portuguese 
could  not  well  be  helped,  as  they  had  expended  all  their  am- 
munition and  were  waiting  anxiously  for  supplies;  hoping, 
no  doubt,  sincerely  that  the  enemy  might  not  hear  that 
their  powder  had  failed.  Luckily  their  hopes  were  not 
disappointed;  the  rebels  waited  until  a  supply  came,  and 
were  then  repulsed  after  three-and-a-half  hours'  hard  fighting. 
Two  months   afterwards   Mariano's    stockade   was   burned, 


28  UNINTERESTING  SCENERY.  Chap.  I. 

the  garrison  having  fled  in  a  panic ;  and  as  Bonga  declared 
that  he  did  not  wish  to  fight  with  this  Governor,  with  whom 
he  had  noquan'el,  the  war  soon  came  to  an  end.  His 
Excellency  meanwhile,  being  a  disciple  of  Kaspail,  had 
taken  nothing  for  the  fever  but  a  little  camphor,  and 
after  he  was  taken  to  Shupanga  became  comatose.  More 
potent  remedies  were  administered  to  him,  to  his  intense 
disgust,  and  he  soon  recovered.  The  Colonel  in  attendance, 
whom  he  never  afterwards  forgave,  encouraged  the  treat- 
ment. "  Give  what  is  right ;  never  mind  him ;  he  is  very 
{muito)  impertinent : "  and  all  night  long,  with  every  draught 
of  water  the  Colonel  gave  a  quantity  of  quinine :  the  con- 
sequence was,  next  morning  the  paiient  was  cinchonized  and 
better.  The  sketch  opposite  represents  the  scene  of  action, 
and  is  interesting  in  an  historical  point  of  view,  because  the 
opening  in  which  a  large  old  canoe,  with  a  hole  in  its  bottom, 
is  seen  lying  on  its  side,  is  the  mouth  of  the  creek  Mutu, 
which  in  1861  appeared  in  a  map  published  by  the  Portu- 
guese  "  Minister  of  Marine  and  the  Colonies  "  as  that  through 
which  the  chief  portion  of  the  Zambesi,  here  about  a  mile 
wide,  flowed  to  QuiUimane.  In  reality  this  creek,  eight  or 
ten  yards  wide,  is  filled  with  grass,  and  its  bed  is  six  feet  or 
more  above  the  level  of  the  Zambesi.  The  side  of  the  creek 
opposite  to  the  canoe  is  seen  in  the  right  of  the  picture,  and 
sloping  down  ljx)m  the  bed  to  one  of  the  dead  bodies,  may  be 
marked  the  successive  heights  at  which  the  water  of  the 
main  stream  stood  from  flood  time  in  March  to  its  medium 
height  in  June. 

For  sixty  or  seventy  miles  before  reaching  Mazaro,  the 
scenery  is  tame  and  uninteresting.  On  either  hand  is  a 
dreary  uninhabited  expanse,  of  the  same  level  grassy  plains, 
>vith  merely  a  few  trees  to  relieve  the  painful  monotony. 


Chap.  I.  BIRDS  AND  BEASTS  ON  RIVER.  21> 

The  round  green  top  of  the  stately  palm-tree  looks  at  a 
distance,  when  its  grey  trunk  cannot  be  seen,  as  though  hung 
in  mid-air.     Many  flocks  of  basy  sandmartins,  which  here, 
and  as  far  south  as  the  Orange  Biver,  do  not  migrate,  have 
perforated  the  banks  two  or  three  feet  horizontally,  in  order 
to  place  their  nests  at  the  ends,  and  are  now  chasing  on  rest- 
less wing  the  myriads  of  tropical  insects.     The  broad  river 
•has  many  low  islands,  on  which  are  seen  various  kinds  of 
waterfowl,  such  as  geese,  spoonbills,  herons,  and  flamingoes. 
Bepulsive  crocodiles,  as  with  open  jaws  they  sleep  and  bask 
in  the  sun  on  the  low  banks,  soon  catch  the  sound  of  the 
revolving  paddles  and  glide  quietly  into  the  stream.     The 
hippopotamus,  having  selected  some  still  reach  of  the  river 
to  spend  the  day,  rises  from  the  bottom,  where  he  has  been 
enjoying  his  morning  bath  after  the  labours  of  the  night  on 
shore,  blows  a  puff  of  spray  out  of  his  nostrils,  shakes  the 
water  out  of  his  ears,  puts  his  enormous  snout  up  straight 
and  yawns,  sounding  a  loud  alarm  to  the  rest  of  the  herd, 
with  notes  as  of  a  monster  bassoon. 

As  we  approach  Mazaro  the  scenery  improves.  We  see 
the  well-wooded  Shupanga  ridge  stretching  to  the  left,  and 
in  front  blue  hills  rise  dimly  far  in  the  distance.  There  is  no 
trade  whatever  on  the  Zambesi  below  Mazaro.  All  the 
merchandise  of  Senna  and  Tette  is  brought  to  that  point  in 
large  canoes,  and  thence  carried  six  miles  across  the  country 
on  men's  heads  to  be  reshipped  on  a  small  stream  that 
flows  into  the  Kwakwa,  or  Qmllimane  river,  which  is  entirely 
distinct  from  the  Zambesi.  Only  on  rare  occasions  and 
during  the  highest  floods  can  canoes  pass  from  the  Zambesi 
to  the  Quillimane  river  through  the  narrow  natural  canal 
Mutu.  The  natives  of  Maruru  or  the  country  around  Mazaro, 
the  word    Mazaro    meaning    the    ** mouth    of  the  creek" 


30  BURDEN  OF  TRIBUTE.  Chap.  I. 

Mutu,  have  a  bad  name  among  the  Portuguese ;  they  are 
said  to  be  expert  thieves,  and  the  merchants  sometimes 
suflfer  from  their  adroitness  while  the  goods  are  in  transit 
from  one  river  to  the  other.  In  general  they  are  trained 
canoe-men,  and  man  many  of  the  canoes  that  ply  thence 
to  Senna  and  Tette;  their  pay  is  small,  and,  not  trusting 
the  traders,  they  must  always  have  it  before  they  start 
Africans  being  prone  to  assign  plausible  reasons  for  their 
conduct,  like  white  men  in  more  enlightened  lands,  it  is 
possible  they  may  be  goodhumouredly  giving  their  reason 
for  insisting  on  being  invariably  paid  in  advance  in  the 
words  of  their  favourite  canoe-song,  "  Uachingere,  Uachingere 
Kale,"  "  You  cheated  me  of  old ; "  or,  "  Thou  art  slippery, 
slippery  truly." 

The  Landeens  or  Zulus  are  lords  of  the  right  bank  of  the 
Zambesi ;  and  the  Portuguese,  by  paying  this  fighting  tribe  a 
pretty  heavy  annual  tribute,  practically  admit  this.  Regularly 
every  year  come  the  Zulus  in  force  to  Senn^  and  Shupanga 
for  their  accustomed  tribute.  The  few  wealthy  merchants  of 
Senna  groan  under  the  burden,  for  it  falls  chiefly  on  them. 
They  submit  to  pay  annually  200  pieces  of  cloth,  of  sixteen 
yards  each,  besides  beads  and  brass  wire,  knowing  that 
refusal  involves  war,  which  might  end  in  the  loss  of  all  they 
possess.  The  Zulus  appear  to  keep  as  sharp  a  look-out  on 
the  Senna  and  Shupanga  people  as  ever  landlord  did  on 
tenant;  the  more  they  cultivate,  the  more  tribute  they 
have  to  pay.  On  asking  some  of  them  why  they  did  not 
endeavour  to  raise  certain  highly  profitable  products,  we  were 
answered,  "  What's  the  use  of  our  cultivating  any  more  than 
we  do  ?  the  Landeens  would  only  come  down  on  us  for  more 
tribute." 

In  the  forests   of  Shupanga  the    Mokundu-kundu  tree 


-i 

is 


Chap.  I.  SHUPANGA.  31 

abounds ;  its  bright  yellow  wood  makes  good  boat-mastSy 
and  yields  a  strong  bitter  medicine  for  fever ;  the  Gimda*treo 
attains  to  an  immense  size ;  its  timber  is  hard,  rather  cross- 
grained,  with  masses  of  silica  deposited  in  its  substance; 
the  lai^e  eanoes,  capable  of  carrying  three  or  four  tons,  are 
made  of  its  wood.  For  permission  to  cut  these  trees,  a  Por- 
tuguese gentleman  of  Quillimane  was  paying  the  Zulus,  in 
1858,  two  hundred  dollars  a  year,  and  his  successor  now  pays 
three  hundred. 

At  Shupanga,  a  one-storied  stone  house  stands  on  the 
prettiest  site  on  the  river.  In  front  a  sloping  lawn,  with  a 
fine  mango  orchard  at  its  southern  end,  leads  down  to  the 
broad  Zambesi,  whose  green  islands  repose  on  the  sunny 
bosom  of  the  tranquil  waters.  Beyond,  northwards,  lie  vast 
fields  and  forests  of  palms  and  tropical  trees,  with  the 
massive  mountain  of  Morambala  towering  amidst  the  white 
clouds ;  and  further  away  more  distant  hills  appear  in  the 
blue  horizon.  This  beautifully  situated  house  possesses  a 
melancholy  interest  from  having  been  associated  in  a  most 
mournful  manner  with  the  history  of  two  English  expedi- 
tions. Here,  in  1826,  poor  Kirkpatrick,  of  Captain  Owen's 
Surveying  Expedition,  died  of  fever;  and  here,  in  1862,  died, 
of  the  same  fatal  disease,  the  beloved  wife  of  Dr.  Livingstone. 
A  hundred  yards  east  of  the  house,  under  a  large  Baobab- 
tree,  far  from  their  native  land,  both  are  buried. 

The  Shupanga-house  was  the  head-quarters  of  the  Governor 
during  the  Mariano  war.  He  told  us  that  the  province  of 
Mosambique  costs  the  Home  Government  between  5000?.  and 
6000Z.  annually,  and  East  Africa  yields  no  reward  in  return 
to  the  mother  country.  We  met  there  several  other  influen- 
tial Portuguese.  All  seemed  friendly,  and  expressed  their 
willingness  to  assist  the  expedition  in  every  way  in  their  power ; 


32  SERVICES  OF  DR.  KIRK.  Chap.  I. 

and  better  still,  Colonel  Nunes  and  Major  Sicard  pnt  their 
good-will  into  action,  by  cutting  wood  for  the  steamer  and 
sending  men  to  help  in  unloading.  It  was  observable  that  not 
one  of  them  knew  anything  about  the  Kongone  Mouth ;  all 
thought  that  we  had  come  in  by  the  "  Barra  Catrina,"  or  East 
Luabo.*  Dr.  Kii*k  remained  here  a  few  weeks ;  and,  besides 
exploring  a  small  lake  twenty  miles  to  the  south-west,  had  the 
sole  medical  care  of  the  sick  and  wounded  soldiers,  for  which 

• 

valuable  services  he  received  the  thanks  of  the  Portuguese 
Government.  We  wooded  up  at  this  place  with  African  ebony 
or  black  wood,  and  lignum  vitsB ;  the  latter  tree  attains  an 
immense  size,  sometimes  as  much  as  four  feet  in  diameter ; 
our  engineer,  knowing  what  ebony  and  lignum  vitae  cost  at 
home,  said  it  made  his  heart  sore  to  bum  woods  so  valuable. 
Though  botanically  different,  they  are  extremely  alike ;  the 
black  wood  as  grown  in  some  districts  is  superior,  and 
the  lignum  vitsB  inferior  in  quality,  to  these  timbers  brought 
from  other  countries.  Caoutchouc,  or  India-rubber,  is  found 
in  abundance  inland  from  Shupanga-house,  and  calumba-root 
is  plentiful  in  the  district ;  indigo,  in  quantities,  propagates 
itself  close  to  the  banks  of  the  river,  and  was  probably  at  some 
time  cultivated,  for  manufactured  indigo  was  once  exported. 
The  India-rubber  is  made  into  balls  for  a  game  resembling 
**  fives,"  and  calumba-root  is  said  to  be  used  as  a  mordant 
for  certain  colours,  but  not  as  a  dye  itself. 


♦  The  reason  of  their  want  of  know- 
ledge— in  which,  notwithstanding  the 
tone  subsequently  assumed  in  official 
papers,  the  Gtoyemment  at  Lisbon  un- 
questionably shared — was  probably,  as 
we  conjecture,  its  recent  formation. 
During  the  period  of  our  acquaintance 
with  the  Kongone,  about  eighty  yards 


were  washed  away  on  one  side  and 
deposited  on  the  other.  •  A  navigable 
channel  by  Nyangalulo  was  quite  filled 
up,  and  Pearl  Island  nearly  all  washed 
away.  As  nothing  whateyer  is  done 
to  preserve  the  channel,  it  wiU  soon 
be  as  shaUow  as  the  Milambe,  and 
entirely  useless  for  navigation. 


Chap.  I.  JOURNEY  TO  TETTE.  33 

We  started  for  Tette  on  the  17th  August,  1858;  the 
nayigation  was  rather  difficult,  the  Zamhem  from  Shupanga 
to  Senna  being  yddeand  full  of  islands;  our  black  pilot, 
John  Scissors,  a  serf,  sometimes  took  the  wrong  channel' and 
ran  us  aground.  Nothing  abashed,  he  would  exclaim  in  an 
aggrieved  tone,  "  This  is  not  the  path,  it  is  back  yonder." 
"  Then  why  didn't  you  go  yonder  at  first  7*  growled  out  our 
Kroomen,  who  had  the  work  of  getting  the  vessel  off.  When 
they  spoke  roughly  to  poor  Scissors,  the  weak  cringing  slave- 
spirit  came  forth  in,  ^^  Those  men  scold  me  so,  I  am  ready 
to  run  away."  This  mode  of  finishing  up  an  engagement  is 
not  at  all  uncommon  on  the  Zambesi ;  several  cases  occurred, 
when  we  were  on  the  river,  of  hired  crews  decamping  with 
most  of  the  goods  in  their  charge.  If  the  trader  cannot 
redress  his  own  wrongs,  he  has  to  endure  them.  The  Landeens 
will  not  surrender  a  fugitive  slave,  even  to  his  master.  One 
belonging  to  Mr.  Azevedo  fled,  and  was,  as  a  great  favour 
only,  returned  after  a  present  of  much  more  than  his  value. 

Our  steamer's  badly-constructed  furnaces  consumed  a 
frightful  amount  of  wood.  Fires  were  lighted  at  two  in 
the  morning,  but  steam  was  seldom  up  before  six.  A 
great  deal  of  time  was  lost  in  wood-cutting.  The  large 
heavy-laden  country  canoes  could  nearly  keep  up  with  us, 
and  the  small  ones  shot  ahead,  and  the  paddlers  looked 
back  in  wonder  and  pity  at  the  slow  pufSng  "  Asthmatic." 
For  us,  steam  was  no  labour-saving  power;  boats,  or  canoes 
even,  would  have  done  for  the  expedition  all  that  it  did, 
with  half  the  toil  and  expense. 

We  landed  to  wood  at  Shamoara,  just  below  the  confluence 
of  the  Shire.  Its  quartz  hiUs  are  covered  with  trees  and 
gigantic  grasses;  the  buaze,  a  small  forest-tree,  grows  abun- 
dantly; it  is  a  species  of  polygala;  its  beautiful  clusters 

D 


54  FKIENDLINESS  OF  BONGA.  Chap.  I. 

of  sweet-scented  pinkish  flowers  perfume  the  air  with  a 
rich  fragrance;  its  seeds  produce  a  fine  drying  oil,  and 
the  bark  of  the  smaller  branches  yields  a  fibre  finer  and 
stronger  than  flax;  with  which  the  natives  make  their  nets 
for  fishing.  Bonga,  the  brother  of  the  rebel  Mariano,  and 
now  at  the  head  of  the  revolted  natives,  with  some  of 
his  principal  men  came  to  see  us,  and  were  perfectly 
Mendly,  though  told  of  our  having  carried  the  sick  Governor 
across  to  Shupanga,  and  of  our  having  cured  him  of  fever. 
On  our  acquainting  Bonga  with  the  object  of  the  expe- 
dition, he  remarked  that  we  should  sufier  no  hindrance 
from  his  people  in  our  good  work.  He  sent  us  a  pre- 
sent of  rice,  two  sheep,  and  a  quantity  of  fire-wood.  He 
never  tried  to  make  any  use  of  us  in  the  strife;  the  other 
side  showed  less  confidence,  by  carefully  cross-questioning 
our  pilot  whether  we  had  sold  any  powder  to  the  enemy. 
We  managed,  however,  to  keep  on  good  terms  with  both 
rebels  and  Portuguese. 

Being  unable  to  take  the  steamer  up  the  shoed  channel 
along  which  Senna  stands,  we  anchored  at  Nyaruka,  a  small 
hamlet  of  blacks,  six  mQes  below,  and  walked  up  to 
Senna  next  morning.  The  narrow  winding  footpath,  along 
which  we  had  to  march  in  Indian  file,  lay  through  gardens 
and  patches  of  wood,  the  loftiest  trees  being  thorny  acacias. 
The  sky  was  cloudy,  the  air  cool  and  pleasant,  and  the 
little  birds,  in  the  gladness  of  their  hearts,  poured  forth 
sweet  strange  songs,  which,  though  equal  to  those  of  the 
singing  birds  at  home  on  a  spring  morning,  yet  seemed, 
somehow,  as  if  in  a  foreign  tongue.  We  met  many  natives 
on  the  road.  Most  of  the  men  were  armed  with  spears,  bows 
and  arrows,  or  old  Tower  muskets ;  the  women  had  short- 
handled  iron  hoes,  and  were  going  to  work  in  the  gardens ; 


g  5 


Chap.  I.  DESCRIPTION  OF  SENNA.  35 

they  stepped  aside*  to  let  us  pass,  and  saluted  us  politely,  the 
men  bowing  and  scraping,  and  the  women,  even  with  heavy 
loads  on  their  heads,  curtseying — a  curtsey  fix>m  bare  legs 
is  startling! 

Senna  is  built  on  a  low  plain,  on  the  ri^t  bank  of 
the  Zambesi,  with  some  pretty  detached  hills  in  the  back- 
ground; it  is  surrounded  by  a  stockade  of  living  trees  to 
protect  its  inhabitants  from  their  troublesome  and  rebellious 
neighbours.  It  contains  a  few  large  houses,  some  ruins  of 
others,  and  a  weatherbeaten  cross,  where  once  stood  a  church ; 
a  mound  shows  the  site  of  an  ancient  monastery,  and 
a  mud  fort  by  the  river  is  so  dilapidated,  that  cows  were 
grazing  peacefully  over  its  prostrate  walls.  This  grieves  not 
the  villagers,  for  its  black  garrison  was  wont  to  keep  within 
doors  when  the  foe  came  near,  leaving  the  merchants  to 
settle  the  strife  as  best  they  could ;  and  they  therefore  consider 
that  the  decay  of  the  fort  has  not  caused  them  to  be  any  more 
helpless  than  they  were  before. 

The  few  Senna  merchants,  having  little  or  no  trade  in  the 
village,  send  parties  of  trusted  slaves  into  the  interior  to  hunt 
for,  and  purchase  ivory.  It  is  a  dull  place,  and  very  conducive 
to  sleep.  One  is  sure  to  take  fever  in  Senna  on  the  second 
day,  if  by  chance  one  escapes  it  on  the  first  day  of  a  sojourn 
there;  but  no  place  is  entirely  bad.  Senna  has  one  re- 
deeming feature :  it  is  the  native  village  of  the  large-hearted 
4uid  hospitable  Senhor  H.  A.  FerrSo.  The  benevolence  of 
this  gentleman  is  unbounded.  The  poor  black  stranger 
passing  through  the  town  goes  to  him  almost  as  a  matter  of 
course  for  food,  and  is  never  sent  away  hungry.  In  times 
of  fianine  the  starving  natives  are  fed  by  his  generosity; 
hundreds  of  his  own  people  he  never  sees  except  on  these 
occasions;  and  the  only  benefit  derived  from  being  their 

D  2 


36  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  NATIVBS.  Chap.  I. 

master  is,  that  they  lean  on  him  as  a  patriarchal  chief,  and  he 
has  the  satisfaction  of  settling  their  differences,  and  of  saving 
their  lives  in  seasons  of  drought  and  scarcity.  His  father,  a 
man  of  superior  attainments,  was  formerly  the  Portugueso 
governor  of  Senna,  and  acquired  a  vast  tract  of  rich  country 
to  the  southward,  called  Chiringoma,  in  a  most  honourable 
manner ;  but  the  Government  ordered  it  to  be  split  up,  and 
reserved  two  leagues  only  for  the  heir,  apportioning  the  r^t 
in  free  grants  to  emigrants ;  the  reason  assigned  for  the 
robbery,  was  that  "It  would  never  do  for  a  subject  to  possess 
more  land  than  the  crown  of  Portugal/*  The  Landeens  soon 
followed,  took  possession  of  the  whole,  and  spoiled  the  spoilers. 
Senhor  Ferrao  received  us  with  his  usual  kindness,  and  gave 
us  a  bountifnl  breakfast.  During  the  day  the  principal  men 
of  the  place  called,  and  were  unanimously  of  opinion  that  the 
free  natives  would  willingly  cultivate  large  quantities  of 
cotton,  could  they  find  purchasers.  They  had  in  former  times 
exported  largely  both  cotton  and  doth  to  Manica  and  even  to 
Brazil  "  On  their  own  soil,'*  they  declared,  "  the  natives  are 
willing  to  labour  and  trade,  provided  only  they  can  do  so  to 
advantage :  when  it  is  for  their  interest,  blacks  work  very 
hard."  We  often  remarked  subsequently  that  this  was  the 
opinion  of  men  of  energy ;  and  that  all  settlers  of  activity, 
enterprise,  and  sober  habits  had  become  rich,  while  those  who 
were  much  addicted  to  lying  on  their  backs  smoking  inva- 
riably complained  of  the  laziness  of  the  negroes,  and  were  poor, 
proud,  and  despicable.  We  dined  with  another  very  honourable 
Portuguese,  Major  Tito  A.  d*  A.  Sicard,  who  quoted  the  common 
remark  that  Dr.  Livingstone's  discovery  of  the  Kongone  Bar 
had  ruined  Quillimane ;  for  the  Government  had  proposed 
to  abandon  that  fever-haunted  locality,  and  to  found  a  new 
town  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kongone.    It  was  not  then  known 


Chap.  I.  ISLAND  OF  PITA.  37 

that  householders  in  the  old  village  preferred  to  resign  all 
oflSces  rather  than  remove.  The  Major  had  a  great 
desire  to  assist  Dr.  Livingstone  in  his  enterprise;  and 
said  that  when  the  war  was  past  he  would  at  once  take  up 
his  goods  to  Tette  in  canoes ;  and  this  he  afterwards  most 
generously  did.  While  returning  to  Nyaruka,  we  heard  a 
bird  like  a  nightingale  pouring  forth  its  sweet  melody  in 
the  stillness  of  the  evening. 

A  picturesque  range  of  lofty  hills  commences  on  the  left 
bank  opposite  Senna,  and  runs  in  a  northerly  direction,  nearly 
parallel  with  the  river.    Here  we  first  fell  in  with  that  fine 
antelope,  the  koodoo  {Antdape  9trep9icero%).  Some  nules  above 
Senna  is  the  island  of  Pita,   with  a  considerable  native 
population,  which  appeared  to  be  well  off  for  food.    A  half- 
caste,  claiming  to  be  the  headman,  came  on  board,  and 
gave  us  a  few  ears  of  green  maize  as  a  ^'seguati.**    This 
is  not  an  ordinary  present,  but  a  very  small  gift,  which 
is  to  win  back  to  the  donor  at  least  twice  its  value.    When 
a  stingy  native  has  a  tough  little  fowl,  or  a  few  ears  of  Indian 
com,  the  value  of  which  is  hardly  appreciable, — as  a  dozen  of 
their  best  fowls  only  cost  two  yards  of  cloth  (once  threepence 
a  yard),  and  a  basket  of  maize  but  half  a  yard, — ^he  forms  it 
into  a  "  seguati,"  lus  heart  overflowing  with  that  gratitude 
once  described  as  a  lively  sense  of  favours  to  come,  and 
is  rather  disappointed  if  he  does  not  get  twice  the  value 
in  return.    We  soon  learned  to  dislike  ''  seguati  '*  from  com- 
mon people,  but  it  was  in  vain  to  say  to  the  shrewd  African, 
*'Sell  it;  we  will  buy  it.**  "Oh,  no,  sir;  it  is  a  seguati;  it  is 
not  for  sale,''  was  the  invariable  reply.    As  it  is  understood 
to  be  a  compliment,  we  always  submitted  to  this  customary 
politeness  from  headmen.    To  have  done  otherwise  would 
have  seemed  to  ourselves  like  ungracious  manners  from  the 


HIPPOPOTAMUS  HUNTERS. 


Ckap.  I. 


I* 

P 

I 


ffld  exalted  to  the  poor  and  lowly.    When  private 

8  attempted  it,  we  declined. 

Beyond  Fita  lies  the  little  island 
Nyamotobsi,  where  we  met  a  small 
I  fugitive  tribe  of  hippopotanlus  hunt^ 
era,  who  had  been  driven  by  war 
from  their  own  island  in  front.  All 
were  busy  at  work ;  some  were  mak- 
ing gigantic  baskets  for  grain,  the 
men  plaiting  from  the  inside.  With 
the  civility  so  common  among  them 
the  chief  ordered  a  mat  to  be  spread 
for  us  under  a  shed,  and  then  showed 
us  the  weapon  with  which  they  kill 
the  hippopotamus ;  it  is  a  short  iron 
harpoon  inserted  in  the  end  of  a 
long  pole,  but  being  intended  to 
unship,  it  is  made  fast  to  a  strong 
cord  of  milola,  or  hibiscns,  bark, 
which  is  wound  closely  round  the 
entire  length  of  the  shaft,  and  se- 
cured at  its  opposit«  end.  Two  men 
in  a  swift  canoe  steal  quietly  down 
on  the  sleeping  animal.  The  bow- 
man dashes  the  harpoon  into  the 
unconscious  victim,  while  the  quick 
steersman  sweeps  the  light  craft, 
back  with  bis  broad  paddle;  the 
force  of  the  blow  separates  the  haiv 
poon  from  its  corded  handle,  which, 
appearing  on  the  surface,  some- 
B  with  an  inflated  bladder  attached,  guides  the  hnuters 


Chap.  I.  HUNTING  EXPEDITION.  39 

to  where  the  wounded  beast  hides  below  until  they  des- 
patch it. 

These  hippopotamus  hunters  form  a  separate  people,  called 
Akombwi,  or  Mapodzo,  and  rarely — the  women  it  is  said  never 
— ^intermarry  with  any  other  tribe.  The  reason  for  their  keep- 
ing aloof  from  certain  of  the  natives  on  the  SSambesi  is  obvious 
enough,  some  having  as  great  an  abhorrence  of  hippopotamus 
meat  as  Mahomedans  have  of  swine's  flesh.  Our  pilot,  Scissors, 
was  one  of  this  class ;  he  would  not  even  cook  his  food  in  a  pot 
which  had  contained  hippopotamus  meat,  preferring  to  go 
hungry  till  he  could  find  another ;  and  yet  he  traded  eagerly 
in  the  animal's  tusks,  and  ate  with  great  relish  the  flesh  of 
the  foul-feeding  marabout.  These  hunters  go  out  frequently 
on  long  expeditions,  taking  in  their  canoes  their  wives  and 
children,  cooking-pots,  and  sleeping-mats.  When  they  reach 
a  good  game  district,  they  erect  temporary  huts  on  the  bank, 
and  there  dry  the  meat  they  have  killed.  They  are  rather  a 
comely-looking  race,  with  very  black  smooth  skins,  and  never 
disfigure  themselves  with  the  frightful  ornaments  of  some  of 
the  other  tribes.    The  chief  declined  to  sell  a  harpoon,  because 

« 

they  could  not  now  get  the  milola  bark  from  the  coast  on 
account  of  Mariano's  war.  He  expressed  some  doubts  about 
our  being  children  of  the  same  Almighty  Father,  remarking 
that  "they  could  not  become  white,  let  them  wash  ever  so 
much."  We  made  him  a  present  of  a  bit  of  cloth,  and  be 
very  generously  gave  us  in  return  some  fine  fresh  fish  and 
Indian  com. 

The  heat  of  the  weather  steadily  increases  during  this  month 
(August),  and  foggy  mornings  are  now  rare.  A  strong  breeze 
ending  in  a  gale  blows  up  stream  every  night  It  came  in  the 
afternoon  a  few  weeks  ago,  then  later,  and  at  present  its  ar- 
rival is  near  midnight ;  it  makes  our  frail  cabin-doors  fly  open 


40  SHIRAMBE  DEMBE.  Chap.  L 

before  it^  but  continues  only  for  a  short  time,  and  is  succeeded 
by  a  dead  calm.  Game  becomes  more  abundant ;  near  our 
wooding-places  we  see  herds  of  zebras,  both  Burchell's  and 
the  mountain  variety,  pallahs  (Antelope  melampiis)^  waterbuck, 
and  wild  hogs,  with  the  spoor  of  buffaloes  and  elephants. 

Shiramba  Dembe,  on  the  right  bank,  is  deserted ;  a  few 
old  iron  guns  show  where  a  rebel  stockade  once  stood ;  near 
the  river  above  this,  stands  a  magnificent  Baobab  hollowed 
out  into  a  good-sized  hut,  with  bark  inside  as  well  as  without. 
The  old  oaks  in  Sherwood  Forest,  when  hollow,  have  the 
inside  dead  or  rotten ;  but  the  Baobab,  though  stripped  of 
its  bark  outside,  and  hollowed  to  a  cavity  inside,  has  the 
power  of  exuding  new  bark  from  its  substance  to  both  the 
outer  and  inner  surfaces ;  so,  a  hut  made  like  that  in  the  oak 
called  the  "  Forest  Queen,"  in  Sherwood,  would  soon  all  be 
lined  with  bark. 

The  portions  of  the  river  called  Shigogo  and  Shipanga 
are  bordered  by  a  low  level  expanse  of  marshy  country,  with 
occasional  clumps  of  palm-trees  and  a  few  thorny  acacias. 
The  river  itself  spreads  out  to  a  width  of  from  three  to  four 
miles,  with  many  islands,  among  which  it  is  difScult  to  navi- 
gate, except  when  the  river  is  in  flood.  In  front,  a  range 
of  high  hills  from  the  north-east  crosses  and  compresses 
it  into  a  deep  narrow  channel,  called  the  Lupata  Gorge. 
The  Portuguese  thought  the  steamer  would  not  stem  the 
current  here;  but  as  it  was  not  more  than  about  three 
knots,  £md  as  there  was  a  strong  breeze  in  our  favour,  steam 
and  sails  got  her  through  with  ease.  Heavy-laden  canoes 
take  two  days  to  go  up  this  pass.  A  current  sweeps 
round  the  little  rocky  promontories  Chifura  and  Eangomba, 
forming  whirlpools  and  eddies  dangerous  for  the  clumsy 
craft,  which  are  dragged  past  with  long  ropes. 


Chap.  I.  BIVER  DEITIES.  41 

The  paddlers  place  meal  on  these  rocks  as  an  oflTering 
to  the  turbulent  deities,  which  they  believe  preside  over 
spots  fatal  to  many  a  large  canoe.  We  were  slily  told 
that  native  Portuguese  take  off  their  hats  to  these  river 
gods^  and  pass  in  solemn  silence ;  when  safely  beyond  the 
promontories,  they  fire  muskets,  and,  as  we  ought  to 
do,  give  the  canoe-men  grog.  From  the  spoor  of  buffiJoes 
and  elephants  it  appears  that  tlese  animals  frequent 
Lupata  in  considerable  numbers,  and :—  we  have  often 
observed  the  association — ^the  tsetse  fly  is  common.  A 
horse  for  the  Governor  of  Tette  was  sent  in  a  canoe  from 
Quillimane ;  and,  lest  it  should  be  wrecked  on  the  Chifura 
and  Kangomba  rocks,  it  was  put  on  shore  and  sent  in  the 
daytime  through  the  pass.  It  was  of  course  bitten  by  the 
tsetse,  and  died  soon  after;  it  was  thought  that  the  air  of 
Tette  had  not  agreed  with  it.  The  currents  above  Lupata  are 
stronger  than  those  below ;  the  country  becomes  more  pic- 
turesque and  hilly,  and  there  is  a  larger  population.  Within 
a  few  miles  of  Tette  are  numerous  ruins  of  stone  houses, 
which  were  destroyed  some  years  ago  by  hostile  natives.  On 
our  approaching  the  village,  crowds  of  people,  chiefly  blacks^ 
appeared  on  the  beach  gazing  in  astonishment  at  the  steamer, 
and,  by  the  motions  of  their  arms,  demonstrating  to  others 
further  off  the  manner  in  which  the  paddles  revolved. 


42 


BETUBN  TO  THE  MAKOLOLO. 


Chap.  II. 


CHAPTER   11. 


Moet  Makololo  at  Tette — Murder  of  six  of  them  hy  Bonga,  the  son  of  Kyaude 
— Ravages  of  smallpox  —  Di^ololo  supported  not  according  to  pablio  orders, 
bat  by  the  priyate  bounty  of  Major  Sicard — Oonvict  class  called  "Incor- 
rigibles  *' — Superstitions  about  mangoes,  coffee,  and  rain-making  —  Securing 
slaves  by  means  of  domestic  ties  —  Oase  of  voluntary  slavery — Gruel  nature 
of  half-castes — Native  love  of  trade — Native  medical  profession  —  Elephant 
and  crocodile  schools  of  medidne — Dice  doctors  and  their  use  as  detective 
police — Senna  and  indigo  plants — Coal,  gold,  and  iron — Ascent  to  Kebra- 
basa  Rapids — Black  glaze  on  rocks — Tribe  of  Bad^ma  —  A  traveller's  tale 
— The  river  Luia — Hippopotunus  flesh  —  Difficult  travelling — Curative 
sleep — Sunstroke — Morumbwa  Cataract — Kebrabasa  surveyed  from  end 
to  end. 

The  ship  anchored  in  the  stream,  off  Tette,  on  the  8th 
September,  1858,  and  Dr.  Livingstone  went  ashore  in  the 
boat.  No  sooner  did  the  Makololo*  recognise  him,  than  they 
rushed  to  the  water's  edge,  and  manifested  great  joy  at  seeing 
him  again.  Some  were  hastening  to  embrace  him,  but  others 
cried  out,  ^  Don't  touch  him,  you  will  spoil  his  new  clothes." 
The  five  headmen  came  on  board  and  listened  in  quiet  sadness 
to  the  story  of  poor  Sekwebu,  who  died  at  the  Mauritius  on  his 
way  to  England.  "  Men  die  in  any  country,"  they  observed, 
and  then  told  us  that  thirty  of  their  own  number  had  died 
of  smallpox,  having  been  bewitched  by  the  people  of  Tette, 
who  envied  them  because,  during  the  first  year,  none  of 
their  party  had  died.    Six  of  their  young  men,  becoming 


*  Makololo,  Manga^ja,  Ajawa,  Ba- 
toka,  Matebele,  Babisa,  Bawe,  &e,  &c^ 
are  all  plural  nouns ;  Ma,  Ba,  A,  being 
plural  prefixes  which  the  Arabs  change 
into  Wa,  as  Wanyassa,  the  people  of 


Nyassa,  or  Manganja,  Wabisa,  who 
call  themselves  Babisa,  and  sometimes 
Avisa.  It  has  not  been  deemed  ne- 
cessary to  add  $  to  words  already 
plural. 


Chap.  IL        MURDER  OF  MAKOLOLO  BY  BONGA, 


43 


tired  of  cutting  firewood  for  a  meagre  pittance,  proposed 
to  go  and  dance  for  gain  before  some  of  the  neighbouring 
Chiefew  "Don't  go,"  said  the  others,  "we  don't  know  the 
people  of  this  country ;  **  but  the  young  men  set  out  and 
visited  an  independent  half-caste  Chief,  a  few  miles  to  the  north, 
named  Chisaka,  who  some  years  ago  burned  all  the  Portuguese 
villas  on  the  north  bank  of  the  liver ;  afterwards  the  young 
men  went  to  Bonga,  son  of  another  half-caste  Chief,  who  bade 
defiance  to  the  Tette  authorities,  and  had  a  stockade  at  the 
confluence  of  the  Zambesi  and  Luenya,  a  few  miles  below  that 
Tillage.*  Asking  the  Makololo  whence  they  came,  Bonga 
rejoined,  "  Why  do  you  come  from  my  enemy  to  me  ?  You 
have  brought  witchcraft  medicine  to  kill  me."  In  vain  they 
protested  that  they  did  not  belong  to  the  country ;  they  were 
strangers,  and  had  come  from  afar  with  an  Englishman.  The 
superstitious  savage  put  them  aU  to  death.  "We  do  not 
grieve,"  said  their  companions,  "  for  the  thirty  victims  of  the 
smallpox,  who  were  taken  away  by  Morimo  (God) ;  but  our 
hearts  are  sore  for  the.  six  youths  who  were  murdered  by 
Bonga."  Any  hope  of  obtaining  justice  on  the  murderer  was 
out  of  the  question.  Bonga  once  caught  a  captain  of  the  Por- 
tuguese army,  and  forced  him  to  perform  the  menial  labour  of 
pounding  maize  in  a  wooden  mortar.  No  punishment  fol- 
lowed on  this  outrage.  The  Government  of  Lisbon  has  since 
given  Bonga  the  honorary  title  of  Captain,  by  way  of  coaxing 
him  to  own  their  authority ;  but  he  still  holds  his  stockade. 
One  of  the  headmen  remarked  "  that  they  had  some  pigs ; 


*  This  is  not  that  Bonga,  brother  of 
Mariano,  who  was  canjing  on  war  in 
another  quarter:  the  word  means  a 
"tiger-cat;**  and  this  was  the  son  of 
Kyande^  who,  when  the  whole  force 


of  Tette  was  mustered  at  the  Lnenya, 
was  sent  np  the  opposite  bank  hj  his 
father,  and  bnmed  aU  the  Tillage,  save 
the  church  and  fort. 


44  PORTUGUESE  DUPUCITT.  Chap.  H. 

they  wished  they  had  been  oxen,  but  they  were  only  pigs." 
"  Would  the  Doctor  eat  pig  ?  "  "  Why  do  you  ask  ?  "  rejoined 
another;  "if  he  won't,  his  people  wilL"  When  parting 
they  remarked,  "We  shall  sleep  to-night"  The  use  of 
the  Kesidencia  or  Government-house  was  kindly  given  us 
by  Major  Tito  A.  d'A.  Sicard ;  it  is  a  stone  house  of  ono 
story,  thatched  with  grass,  its  windows  of  cloth,  and  the  floors 
of  clay.  The  Makololo  carried  up  our  goods,  the  minstrel 
of  the  party,  called  Singeleka,  followed  jingling  his  native 
bells,  and  chanting  an  energetic  song  extemporised  for  the 
occasion.  Some  readers  may  remember  that  when  Dr.  Living- 
stone was  in  England,  it  was  commonly  reported  thatthePortu- 
guese  Government  had  sent  out  orders  to  have  the  Makololo 
supported  at  the  public  expense  until  he  returned  to  take  them 
back  to  their  own  country.  This  generous  sympathy  on  the 
part  of  the  Ministers  in  Lisbon  gratified  many  English  philan- 
thropists, and,  relieving  the  Doctor's  mind  from  anxiety,  gave 
him  time  to  prepare  his  journal  for  the  press  before  setting  out 
again  to  his  work.  When  our  own  Government  promises  to 
perform  anything,  no  one  in  his  senses  ever  doubts  their  word 
of  honour ;  and  for  this  reason  the  English  people  and  the 
English  Government  naturaUy  err  by  giving  too  ready  credit 
to  the  assurances  of  Governments,  whose  moral  tone  is  pitched 
much  lower  than  their  own.  The  Makololo  never  heard  of  the 
order  from  Portugal,  and  the  Portuguese  authorities  at  Tette 
were  in  profound  ignorance  of  its  existence.  The  pay  of  the 
officials,  in  fact,  was  several  years  in  arrear,  and  for  His  Most 
Faithful  Majesty's  Government  to  pretend  to  order  them  to 
feed  a  hundred  men  out  of  their  own  private  means  looked  a 
little  like  the  not  unusual  kind  of  benevolence  of  being  generous 
with  other  people's  property.  The  poor  fellows  had  to  go 
far  to  cut  wood,  and  then  hawk  it  round  the  village  to  buy  a 


Chap.  II.  DESCRIPTION  OF  TETTE.  45 

little  food.  They  received  no  aid  from  the  Mosambique 
GrOTenunent;  but  Major  Sicard  did  assist  them  most  gene* 
ronsly  at  his  own  cost,  and  also  gave  them  land  and  hoes 
to  raise  some  food  for  themselves. 

Tette  stands  on  a  sncceesion  of  low  sandstone  ridges  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Zambesi,  which  is  here  nearly  a  thousand 
yards  wide  (960  yards).    Shallow  ravines,  mnning  paraUel 
with  the  river,  form  the  streets,  the  houses  being  built  on  the 
ridgea     The  whole  surfetce  of  the  streets,  except  narrow  foot- 
paths, were  overrun  with  self-sown  indigo,  and  tons  of  it  might 
have  been  collected.     In  fact  indigo,  senna,  and  stramonium, 
with  a  species  of  cassia,  form  the  weeds  of  the  place,  which  are 
annually  hoed  off  and  burned.    A  wall  of  stone  and  mud  sur- 
rounds the  village,  and  the  native  population  live  in  huts  out- 
side.    The  fort  and  the  church,  near  the  river,  are  the 
strongholds;  the  natives  having  a  salutary  dread  of  the  guns 
of  the  one,  and  a  superstitious  fear  of  the  unknown  power  of 
the  other.    The  number  of  white  inhabitants  is  small,  and 
rather    select,  many  qf  them   having  been    considerately 
sent    out  of  Portugal  "  for   their   country's  good.'*      The 
military  element  preponderates  in  society;  the  convict  and 
"  incorrigible  "  class  of  soldiers,  receiving  very  little  pay, 
depend  in  great  measure  on  the  produce  of  the  gardens  of 
their  black  wives ;    the  moral  condition  of  the  resulting 
population  may  be  imagined.     Even  the  officers  seldom 
receive  their  pay  from  Grovemment ;  but,  being  of  an  enter- 
prising spirit,  they  contrive  to  support  themselves  by  mar- 
rying the  daughters  or  widows  of  wealthy  merchants ;  and 
trade  in  ivory  by  means  of  the  slaves,  of  whom  they  thus 
become  the  masters. 

Droughts  are  of  frequent  occurrence  at  Tette,  and  the  crops 
suffer  severely.    This  may  arise  partly  from  the  position  of  the 


46  SUPERSTITIONS  OP  AFRICANS.  Chap.  U. 

town  between  the  ranges  of  hills  north  and  south,  which  appear 
to  have  a  strong  attraction  for  the  rain-clouds.  It  is  often  seen 
to  rain  on  these  hills  when  not  a  drop  falls  at  Tette.  Our  first 
season  was  one  of  drought.  Thrice  had  the  women  planted 
their  gardens  in  vain,  the  seed,  after  just  vegetating;  was 
killed  by  the  intense  dry  heat.  A  fourth  planting  shared  the 
same  hard  fate,  and  then  some  of  the  knowing  ones  discovered 
the  cause  of  the  clouds  being  frightened  away:  our  unlucky 
rain-gauge  in  the  garden.  We  got  a  bad  name  through 
that  same  rain-gauge,  and  were  regarded  by  many  as  a 
species  of  evil  omen.  The  Makololo  in  turn  blamed  the 
people  of  Tette  for  drought:  "A  number  of  witches  live  here, 
who  won't  let  it  rain."  Africans  in  general  are  sufiRciently 
superstitious,  but  those  of  Tette  are  in  this  particular  pre- 
eminent above  their  fellows.  Coming  from  many  different 
tribes,  all  the  rays  of  the  separate  superstitions  converge 
into  a  focus  at  Tette,  and  bum  out  common  sense  from  the 
minds  of  the  mixed  breed.  They  believe  that  many  evil 
spirits  live  in  the  air,  the  earth,  and  the  water.  These 
invisible  malicious  beings  are  thought  to  inflict  much  suffer- 
ing on  the  human  race ;  but,  as  they  have  a  weakness  for 
beer  and  a  craving  for  food,  they  may  be  propitiated  from 
time  to  time  by  offerings  of  meat  and  drink.  The  serpent  is 
an  object  of  worship,  and  hideous  little  images  are  hung 
in  the  huts  of  the  sick  and  dying.  The  uncontaminated 
Africans  believe  that  Morungo,  the  Great  Spirit  who  formed 
all  things,  lives  above  the  stars ;  but  they  never  pray  to  him, 
and  know  nothing  of  their  relation  to  him,  or  of  his  interest 
in  them.  The  spirits  of  their  departed  ancestors  are  all  good, 
according  to  their  ideas,  and  on  special  occasions  aid  them 
in  their  enterprises.  When  a  man  has  his  hair  cut,  he  is 
carefal  to  bum  it,  or  bury  it  secretly,  lest,  felling  into  the 


Chap.  n.        MANGOES— COFFEE—RATN-MAKING.  47 

hands  of  one  who  has  an  eyil  eye,  or  is  a  witch,  it  should  be 
nsed  as  a  charm  to  afflict  him  with  headache.  They  believe, 
too,  that  they  will  live  after  the  death  of  the  body,  but  do  not 
know  anything  of  the  state  of  the  Barimo  (gods,  or  departed 
spirits). 

Hie  mango-tree  grows  luxuriantly  above  Lupata,  and 
furnishes  a  grateful  shade.  Its  delicious  firuit  is  superior  to 
that  on  the  coast  For  weeks  the  natives  who  have  charge 
of  the  mangoes  live  entirely  on  the  fruit,  and,  as  some  trees 
bear  in  November  and  some  in  March,  while  the  main  crop 
comes  between,  fruit  in  abundance  may  easily  be  obtained 
during  four  months  of  the  year;  but  no  native  can  be 
induced  to  plant  a  mango.  A  vnde-spread  superstition  has 
become  riveted  in  the  native  mind,  that  if  any  one  plants 
this  tree  he  will  soon  die.  The  Makololo,  like  other  natives, 
were  very  fond  of  the  fruit ;  but  when  told  to  take  up  some 
mango-stones,  on  their  return,  and  plant  them  in  jtheir  own 
country — they  too  having  become  deeply  imbued  with  the 
belief  that  it  was  a  suicidal  act.  to  do  so— replied  "they  did 
not  wrish  to  die  too  soon."  There  is  also  a  superstition  even 
among  the  native  Portuguese  of  Tette  that  if  a  man  plants 
coffee  he  will  never  afterwards  be  happy :  they  drink  it,  how- 
erer,  and  seem  the  happier  for  it. 

During  the  drought  of  1858  a  neighbouring  chief  got 
up  a  performance,  with  divers  ceremonies  and  incantations,  to 
bring  rain,  but  it  would  not  come.  The  Goanese  padre  of 
Tette,  to  satisfy  his  compatriots,  appointed  a  procession  and 
prayers  in  honour  of  Saint  Antonio  for  the  same  purpose.  The 
first  attempt  did  not  answer,  but  on  the  second  occasion, 
arranged  to  come  off  after  the  new-moon  appeared,  a  grand 
proc^sion  in  the  saint's  honour  ended  in  so  much  rain  that 
the  roof  of  the  Besidencia   gave   way:    Saint  Antonio's 


48  VEGETATION  ANTICIPATING  SPRING.      Chap.  IL 

image  was  decorated  the  following  week  with  a  golden 
coronal,  worth  221,  for  sending  the  long-delayed  and 
much-needed  rain.  We  never  looked  with  disdain  on  the 
rites  or  ceremonies  of  any  church;  bul^  on  witnessing  the 
acts  of  worship  on  this  occasion,  so  great  was  the  irreverence 
manifested, — ^the  kneeling  worshippers  laughing  and  joking 
between  the  responses,  not  even  ceasing  their  grins  when 
uttering  "  Ora  pro  nobis," — ^that  we  could  not  help  believing 
that  if,  like  the  natives,  they  have  faith  in  rain-making,  they 
have  faith  in  nothing  else. 

Most  of  the  trees  shed  their  leaves  in  May,  the  beginning 
of  winter,  and  remain  bare  until  the  rains  come  in  November ; 
several  kinds  are  in  the  curious  habit  of  anticipating, 
as  it  were,  the  rains  by  instinct;  and  in  the  beginning  of 
October,  when  the  dry  season  has  reached  its  driest  point 
and  there  is  not  a  drop  of  dew,  they  begin  to  generate 
buds,  and  in  a  few  days  put  forth  fresh  and  various-hued 
foliage,  and  sometimes  beautiful  blossoms.  In  a  somewhat 
similar  manner,  the  trees  in  the  Arctic  regions  are  said  to 
anticipate  the  coming  spring,  and  display  fresh  green  leaves, 
when  the  ground  is  hard  frozen,  to  a  depth  greater  than  that 
to  which  roots  ever  penetrate. 

The  Portuguese  of  Tette  have  many  slaves,  with  all  the 
usual  vices  of  their  class,  as  theft,  Ipng,  and  impurity. 
As  a  general  rule  the  real  Portuguese  are  tolerably  humane 
masters  and  rarely  treat  a  slave  cruelly ;  this  may  be  due  as 
much  to  natural  kindness  of  heart  as  to  a  fear  of  losing 
the  slaves  by  their  running  away.  When  they  purchase  an 
adult  slave  they  buy  at  the  same  time,  if  possible,  all  his 
relations  along  with  him.  They  thus  contrive  to  secure  him 
to  his  new  home  by  domestic  ties.  Bunning  away  then 
would  be  to  forsake  all  who  hold  a  place  in  his  heart,  for  the 


Chap.  II.     CASE  OF  VOLUNTABY  SLAVERY.         49 

mere  chance  of  acquiring  a  freedom,  which  would  probably 
be  forfeited  on  his  entrance  into  the  first  native  village,  for 
the  Chief  might,  without  compunction,  again  sell  him  into 
slavery. 

A  rather  singular  case  of  voluntary  slavery  came  to  our 
knowledge :  a  free  black,  an  intelligent  active  young  fellow, 
called  Chibanti,  who  had  been  our  pilot  on  the  river,  told  us 
that  he  had  sold  himself  into  slavery.  On  asking  why  he  had 
done  this,  he  replied  that  he  was  all  alone  in  the  world,  had 
neither  father  nor  mother,  nor  any  one  else  to  give  him 
water  when  sick,  or  food  when  hungry ;  so  he  sold  himself 
to  Major  Sicard,  a  notoriously  kind  master,  whose  slaves 
had  little  to  do,  and  plenty  to  eat.  ''And  how  much 
<iid  you  get  for  yourself?"  we  asked.  ** Three  thirty-yard 
pieces  of  cotton  cloth,*'  he  replied ;  "  and  I  forthwith  bought 
a  man,  a  woman,  and  child,  who  cost  me  two  of  the  pieces, 
and  I  had  one  piece  left."  This,  at  all  events,  showed  a 
cool  and  calculating  spirit ;  he  afterwards  bought  more 
slaves,  and  in  two  years  owned  a  sufficient  number  to  man 
one  of  the  large  canoes.  His  master  subsequently  em- 
ployed him  in  carrying  ivory  to  Quillimane,  and  gave 
him  cloth  to  hire  mariners  for  the  voyage;  he  took 
his  own  slaves,  of  course,  and  thus  drove  a  thriving 
business ;  and  was  fully  convinced  that  he  had  made  a  good 
speculation  by  the  sale  of  himself  for  had  he  been  sick 
his  master  must  have  supported  him.  Occasionally  some 
of  the  &ee  blacks  become  slaves  voluntarily  by  going  through 
the  simple  but  significant  ceremony  of  breaking  a  spear  in 
the  presence  of  their  future  master.  A  Portuguese  officer, 
since  dead,  persuaded  one  of  the  Makololo  to  remain  in 
Tette,  instead  of  returning  to  his  own  country,  and  tried 
iilso  to  induce  him  to  break  a  spear  before  him,  and  thus 

E 


50  NATIVE  LOVE  OF  TRADE.  Chap.  U. 

acknowledge  himself  his  slave,  but  the  man  was  too  shrewd 
for  this ;  he  was  a  great  elephant  doctor,  who  accompanied 
the  hunters,  told  them  when  to  attack  the  huge  beast,  and 
gave  them  medicine  to  ensure  success.  Unlike  the  real 
Portuguese,  many  of  the  half-castes  are  merciless  slaveholders ; 
their  brutal  treatment  of  the  wretched  slaves  is  notorious. 
What  a  humane  native  of  Portugal  once  said  of  them  is 
appropriate  if  not  true :  "  Grod  made  white  men,  and  Grod 
made  black  men,  but  the  devil  made  half-castes." 

The  oflScers  and  merchants  send  parties  of  slaves  under 
faithful  headmen  to  hunt  elephants  and  to  trade  in  ivory^ 
providing  them  with  a  certain  quantity  of  cloth,  beads,  &c.,  and 
requiring  so  much  ivory  in  return.  These  slaves  think  that 
they  have  made  a  good  thing  of  it,  when  they  kill  an  ele- 
phant near  a  village,  as  the  natives  give  them  beer  and  meal 
in  exchange  for  some  of  the  elephant's  meat,  and  over  every 
tusk  that  is  bought  there  is  expended  a  vast  amount  of 
time,  talk,  and  beer.  Most  of  the  Africans  are  natural-bom 
traders,  they  love  trade  more  for  the  sake  of  trading  than  for 
what  they  make  by  it.  An  intelligent  gentlemtui  of  Tette 
told  us  that  native  traders  often  come  to  him  with  a  tusk  for 
sale,  consider  the  price  he  offers,  demand  more,  talk  over  it, 
retire  to  consult  about  it,  and  at  length  go  away  without 
selling  it ;  next  day  they  try  another  merchant,  talk,  consider, 
get  puzzled  and  go  off  as  on  the  previous  day,  and  continue 
this  course  daily  until  they  have  perhaps  seen  every  merchant 
in  the  village,  and  then  at  last  end  by  selling  the  precious 
tusk  to  some  one  for  even  less  than  the  first  merchant  had 
offered.  Their  love  of  dawdling  in  the  transaction  arises 
from  the  self-importance  conferred  on  them  by  their  being 
the  object  of  the  wheedling  and  coaxing  of  eager  merchants, 
a  feeling  tx)  which  even  the  love  of  gain  is  subordinate. 


J 


Chap.  H.  NATIVE  MEDICAL  PROFESSION.  51 

The  native  medical  profession  is  reasonably  well  repre- 
sented. In  addition  to  the  regolar  practitioners,  who  are  a 
really  nsefiil  class^  and  know  something  of  their  profession, 
and  the  nature  and  power  of  certain  medicines,  there  are  others 
who  devote  their  talents  to  some  speciality.  The  elephant 
doctor  prepares  a  medicine  which  is  considered  indispensable 
to  the  himters  when  attacking  that  noble  and  sagacious 
beast ;  no  hunter  is  willing  to  venture  out  before  inveeting 
in  this  precious  nostrum.  The  crocodile  doctor  sells  a  charm 
which  is  believed  to  possess  the  singular  virtue  of  protecting 
its  owner  from  crocodiles.  Unwittingly  we  offended  the 
crocodile  school  of  medicine  while  at  Tette,  by  shooting  one 
of  these  huge  reptiles  as  it  lay  basking  in  the  sun  on  a 
sandbank ;  the  doctors  came  to  the  Makololo  in  wrath,  cla- 
mouring to  know  why  the  white  man  had  shot  their  crocodile. 

A  shark's  hook  was  baited  one  evening  with  a  dog, 
of  which  the  crocodile  is  said  to  be  particularly  fond; 
but  the  doctors  removed  the  bait,  on  the  principle 
that  the  more  crocodiles  the  more  demand  for  medicine, 
or  perhaps  because  they  preferred  to  eat  the  dog  them- 
selves. Many  of  the  natives  of  this  quarter  are  known, 
as  in  the  South  Seas,  to  eat  the  dog  without  paying  any 
attention  to  its  feeding.  The  dice  doctor  or  diviner  is 
an  important  member  of  the  community,  being  consulted  by 
Portuguese  and  natives  alike.  Part  of  his  business  is  that  of 
a  detective,  it  being  his  duty  to  discover  thieves.  When  goods 
are  stolen,  he  goes  and  looks  at  the  place,  casts  his  dice,  and 
waits  a  few  days,  and  then,  for  a  consideration,  tells  who  is  the 
thief:  he  is  generally  correct,  for  he  trusts  not  to  his  dice 
alone ;  he  has  confidential  agents  all  over  the  village,  by  whose 
inquiries  and  information  he  is  enabled  to  detect  the  culprit. 
Since  the  introduction  of  muskets,  gun-doctors  have  sprung 

£  2 


52  VEGETABLE  AND  MINEBAL  PRODUCTIONS.  Chap.  U. 

up;  and  they  sell  the  medicine  which  professes  to  make  good 
marksmen;  others  are  rain  doctors,  &a  &c.  The  various 
schools  deal  in  little  charms,  which  are  hung  round  the  pur- 
chaser's neck  to  avert  evil :  some  of  them  contain  the  medicine^ 
others  increase  its  power. 

Indigo,  about  three  or  four  feet  high,  grows  in  great  luxu- 
riance in  the  streets  of  Tette,  and  so  does  the  Senna  plant 
The  leaves  are  undistinguishable  from  those  imported  in 
England.  We  set  the  Makololo  to  collect  specimens,  but 
the  natives  objected  to  their  doing  so,  though  they  them- 
selves never  make  use  of  them.  A  small  amount  of  first-rate 
cotton  is  cultivated  by  the  native  population  for  the  manu- 
£Etcture  of  a  coarse  doth.  In  former  times  the  Portuguese 
collected  it  at  a  cheap  rate,  and  made  use  of  it  instead  of  the 
calico  now  imported,  to  exchange  for  the  Manica  gold  dust 
A  neighbouring  tribe  raises  the  sugar-cane,  and  makes  a 
little  sugar;  but  they  use  most  primitive  wooden  rollers, 
and  having  no  skill  in  mixing  lime  with  the  extracted  juice, 
the  product  is  of  course  of  very  inferior  quality.  Plenty  of  mag- 
netic  iron-ore  is  found  near  Tette,  £uid  coal  also  to  any  amount ; 
a  single  cliff-seam  measuring  twenty-five  feet  in  thickness.  It 
was  found  to  bum  well  in  the  steamer  on  the  first  trial.  The 
ash  showed  a  large  quantity  of  shaly  refuse ;  but,  suspecting 
that  this  was  from  the  coal  near  the  surface  having  been 
exposed  to  the  weather  for  ages,  we  drove  a  shaft  of  some 
thirty  feet,  £md  the  mineral  was  found  to  improve  the  ftir- 
ther  we  went  in.  Gold  ia  washed  for  in  the  beds  of  rivers, 
within  a  couple  of  days  of  Tette.  The  natives  are  fully  aware 
of  its  value,  but  seldom  search  for  it,  and  never  dig  deeper 
than  four  or  five  feet  They  dread  lest  the  falling  in  of  the 
sand  of  the  river's  bed  should  bury  them.  In  former  times, 
when  traders  went  with  hundreds  of  slaves  to  the  washings. 


Chap.  If.  KEBRABASA  RAPIDS.  53 

the  produce  was  considerable.  Itisnowinsigiiificant  The  gold- 
producing  lands  have  always  been  in  the  hands  of  independent 
tribes.  Deep  cuttings  near  the  sources  of  the  gold-yielding 
streams  seem  never  to  have  been  tried  here,  as  in  Cali£>mia 
and  Australia,  nor  has  any  machinery  been  used  save  common 
wooden  basins  for  washing. 

Our  curiosity  had  been  so  much  excited  by  the  reports  we 
had  heard  of  the  Kebrabasa  rapids,  that  we  resolved  to  make 
a  short  examination  of  them,  and  seized  the  opportunity  of 
the  Zambesi  being  unusually  low,  to  endeavour  to  ascertain 
their  character  while  uncovered  by  the  water.  We  reached 
them  on  the  9th  of  November.  The  country,  between  Tette 
and  Panda  Mokua,  where  navigation  ends,  is  well  wooded  and 
hilly  on  both  banks.  Panda  Mokua  is  a  hill  two  miles  below 
the  rapids,  capped  with  dolomite  containing  copper  ore. 

Conspicuous  among  the  trees,  for  its  gigantic  size,  and  bark 
coloured  exactly  like  Egyptian  syenite,  is  the  burly  Baobab. 
It  often  makes  the  other  trees  of  the  forest  look  like  mere 
bushes  in  comparison.  A  hollow  one,  already  mentioned,  is 
74  fetet  in  circumference,  another  was  84,  and  some  have  been 
found  on  the  West  Coast  which  measure  100  feet  Their  great 
size  induced  some  to  imagine  that  they  afforded  evidence 
that  the  flood  of  Noah  never  took  place.  On  careful  exami- 
nation of  many  hundreds  in  the  forests,  and  some  which 
had  sprung  up  in  the  floors  of  old  stone  houses,  the  num- 
ber  of  concentric  rings  conTince  us  that  even  the  very 
largest  specimens  of  this  remarkably  soft-wooded  tree  are  not 
500  years  old.  The  lofty  range  of  Kebrabasa,  consisting 
chiefly  of  conical  hills,  covered  with  scraggy  trees,  crosses 
the  Zambesi,  and  confines  it  within  a  narrow,  rough,  and 
rocky  dell  of  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  breadth ;  over  this, 
which  may  be  called  the  flood-bed  of  the  river,  large  masses 


54  GEOLOGY  OP  KEBRABASA.       Chap.  H. 

of  rock  are  huddled  in  indescribable  concision.  The  drawing, 
for  the  use  of  which,  and  of  others,  our  thanks  are  due  to 
Lord  Bussell,  conveys  but  a  faint  idea  of  the  scene,  inasmuch 
as  the  hills  which  confine  Ihe  river  do  not  app^  in  the 
sketch.  The  chief  rock  is  syenite,  some  portions  of  which 
have  a  beautiful  blue  tinge  like  lajns  lazuli  diffused  through 
them ;  others  are  grey.  Blocks  of  granite  also  abound,  of  a 
pinkish  tinge ;  and  these  with  metamorphic  rocks,  contorted, 
twisted,  and  thrown  into  every  conceivable  position,  afford  a 
picture  of  dislocation  or  unconformability  which  would  gladden 
a  geological  lecturer's  heart;  but  at  high  flood  this  rough 
channel  is  all  smoothed  over,  and  it  then  conforms  well  with 
the  river  below  it,  which  is  half  a  mile  wide.  In  the  dry 
season  the  stream  nms  at  the  bottom  of  a  narrow  and  deep 
groove,  whose  sides  are  polished  and  fluted  by  the  boiling 
action  of  the  water  in  flood,  like  the  rims  of  ancient  Eastern 
wells  by  the  draw-ropes.  The  breadth  of  the  groove  is  often 
not  more  than  from  forty  to  sixty  yards,  and  it  has  some 
sharp  turnings,  double  channels,  and  little  cataracts  in  it. 
As  we  steamed  up,  the  masts  of  the  **  Ma  Kobert,**  though 
some  thirty  feet  high,  did  not  reach  the  level  of  the  flood- 
channel  above,  and  the  man  in  the  chains  sung  out,  ^^No 
bottom  at  ten  fathoms."  Huge  pot-holes,  as  large  as  draw- 
wells,  had  been  worn  in  the  sides,  and  were  so  deep  that 
in  some  instances,  when  protected  from  the  sun  by  over- 
hanging boulders,  the  water  in  them  was  quite  cool.  Some 
of  these  holes  had  been  worn  right  through,  and  only  the 
side  next  the  rock  remained ;  while  the  sides  of  the  groove 
of  the  flood-channel  were  polished  as  smooth  as  if  they  had 
gone  through  the  granite-mills  of  Aberdeen,  The  pressure 
of  the  water  must  be  enormous  to  produce  this  polish.  It 
had  wedged  round  pebbles  into  chinks  and  crannies  of  the 


Chap.  n. 


EXAMINATION  OF  THE  RAPIDS. 


55 


rocks  so  firmly  that,  though  they  looked  quite  loose,  they 
could  not  be  moved  except  with  a  hammer.  The  mighty 
power  of  the  water  here  seen  gaye  us  an  idea  of  what  is 
going  on  in  thousands  of  cataracts  in  the  world.  All  the 
information  we  had  been  able  to  obtain  from  our  Portu- 
guese friends  amounted  to  this,  that  some  three  or  four 
detached  rocks  jutted  out  of  the  river  in  Kebrabasa,  which, 
though  dangerous  to  the  cumbersome  native  canoes,  could  be 
easily  passed  by  a  steamer,  and  that  if  one  or  two  of  these 
obstructions  were  blasted  away  with  gunpowder,  no  difficulty 
would  hereafter  be  experienced.  After  we  had  painfully  ex- 
plored seven  or  eight  miles  of  the  rapid,  we  returned  to  the 
vessel  satisfied  that  much  greater  labour  was  requisite  for  the 
mere  examination  of  the  cataracts  than  our  friends  supposed 
necessary  to  remove  them ;  we  therefore  went  down  the  river 
for  fresh  supplies,  and  made  preparation  for  a  more  serious 
survey  of  this  region. 

The  steamer  having  returned  from  the  bar,  we  set  out  on 
the  22nd  of  November  to  examine  the  rapids  of  Eebrabasa.* 
We  reached  the  foot  of  the  hills  again,  late  in  the  afternoon 
of  the  24th,  and  anchored  in  the  stream.  Canoe-men  never 
sleep  on  the  river,  but  always  spend  the  night  on  shore.  The 
natives  on  the  right  bank,  in  the  country  called  Shidima,  who 
are  Banyai,  and  even  at  this  short  distance  from  Tette,  inde- 
pendent, and  accustomed  to  lord  it  over  Portuguese  traders, 
wondered  what  could  be  our  object  in  remaining  afloat,  and 
were  naturally  suspicious  at  our  departing  from  the  universal 
custom. 


*  The  word  as  prononnoed  by  the 
naiiTes  is  Eaora-basa,  **  finish  or  break 
the  seryice."  The  Portuguese  word 
£ebia  (quebra)  means  the  same  thing, 


and  refers  to  the  break  which  oocoib 
in  the  labour  of  toiling  np  thus  fiEir  in 
heavy  canoes  and  then  carrying  the 
luggage  hence  overland'to  Chioova. 


"/• 


56  BLACK  GLAZE  ON  ROCKS.  Chap.  IL 

They  hafled  us  from  the  bank  in  the  evening  with  ^  Why 
don't  you  come  and  sle^  on  shcre  like  other  people  ?" 

The  answer  they  received  from  our  Makololo,  who  now 
felt  as  independent  as  the  Banyai,  was,  '^We  are  held  to 
the  bottom  with  iron ;  you  may  see  we  are  not  like  your 
Bazungu." 

This  hint,  a  little  amplified,  saved  us  from  the  usual  exac- 
tions. It  is  pleasant  to  give  a  present,  but  that  pleasure  the 
Banyai  usually  deny  to  strangers  by  making  it  a  fine,  and 
demanding  it  in  such  a  supercilious  way,  that  only  a 
sorely-cowed  trader  could  bear  it.  They  often  refuse  to 
touch  what  is  offered — throw  it  down  and  leave  it — sneer 
at  the  trader's  slaves,  and  refuse  a  passage  until  the  tribute 
is  raised  to  the  utmost  extent  of  his  means. 

Leaving  the  steamer  next  morning,  we  proceeded  on  foot, 
accompanied  by  a  native  Portuguese  and  his  men  and  a 
dozen  Makololo,  who  carried  our  baggage.  The  morning  was 
pleasant,  the  hiUs  on  our  right  frimished  for  a  time  a  delight- 
ful shade ;  but  before  long  the  path  grew  frightfully  rough, 
and  the  hills  no  longer  shielded  us  from  the  blazing  sun. 
Scarcely  a  vestige  of  a  track  was  now  visible;  and,  indeed, 
had  not  our  guide  assured  us  to  the  contrary,  we  should  have 
been  innocent  of  even  the  suspicion  of  a  way  along  the  patches 
of  soft  yielding  sand,  and  on  the  great  rocks  over  which  we  so 
painfoUy  clambered.  These  rocks  have  a  singular  appear- 
ance, from  being  dislocated  and  twisted  in  every  direction, 
and  covered  with  a  thin  black  glaze,  as  if  highly  polished  and 
coated  with  lamp-black  varnish.  This  seems  to  have  been 
deposited  while  the  river  was  in  flood,  for  it  covers  only 
those  rocks  which  lie  between  the  highest  water-mark 
and  a  line  about  four  feet  above  the  lowest.  Travellers 
who  have  visited  the  rapids  of  the  Orinoco  and  the  Congo 


Chap.  U.  BADEMA  TRIBE.  57 

say  that  the  rocks  there  have  a  similar  appearance,  and  it  is 
attributed  to  some  deposit  from  the  water,  formed  only  when 
the  current  is  strong.  This  may  account  for  it  in  part  here, 
as  it  prevails  only  where  the  narrow  river  is  confined  between 
masses  of  rock,  backed  by  high  hills,  and  where  the  current  in 
floods  is  known  to  be  the  strongest;  and  it  does  not  exist  where 
the  rocks  are  only  on  one  side,  with  a  sandy  beach  opposite, 
and  a  broad  expanse  of  river  between.  The  hot  rocks  burnt 
the  thick  soles  of  our  men's  feet>  and  sorely  fatigued  ourselves. 
Our  first  day's  march  did  not  exceed  four  miles  in  a  straight 
line,  and  that  we  found  more  than  enough  to  be  pleasant. 

A  few  inhabitants,  of  the  tribe  called  Bad^ma,  were  seen 
living  in  the  valleys.  They  cultivate  small  quantities  of 
maize,  tobacco,  and  cotton  in  the  available  hollows,  and  the 
holcus  sorghum,  or  as  they  call  it  **  mapira",  on  the  steep 
slopes  of  their  mountains.  Fish  are  caught  in  the  river  with 
casting  nets.  Zebras,  antelopes,  and  other  animals  are  taken 
by  driving  them  into  ravines,  strong  nets  made  of  baobab- 
bark  being  stretched  across  the  narrow  outlets. 

The  state  of  insecurity  in  which  the  Bad^ma  tribe  live 
is  indicated  by  the  habit  of  hiding  their  provisions  in  the 
hills,  and  keeping  only  a  small  quantity  in  their  huts ;  they 
strip  a  particular  species  of  tree  of  its  bitter  bark,  to  which 
both  mice  and  monkeys  are  known  to  have  an  antipathy,  and, 
turning  the  bark  inside  out,  sew  it  into  cylindrical  vessels 
for  their  grain,  and  bury  them  in  holes  and  in  crags  on  the 
wooded  lull-sides.  By  this  means,  should  a  marauding  party 
plunder  their  huts,  they  save  a  supply  of  com.  They  **  could 
give  us  no  informationi  and  they  had  no  food;  Chisaka's 
men  had  robbed  them  a  few  weeks  before." 

"  Never  mind,"  said  our  native  Portuguese,  **  they  will  sell 
you  plenty  when  you  return,  they  are  afraid  of  you  now,  as 


58  A  TKAVELLER'S  TALE.  Chap.  H. 

yet  they  do  not  know  who  you  are."  We  slept  under  trees 
in  the  open  air^  and  suffered  no  inconvenience  from  either 
mosquitoes  or  dew :  and  no  prowling  wild  beast  troubled  us ; 
though  one  evening,  while  we  were  here,  a  native  sitting  with 
some  others  on  the  opposite  bank  was  killed  by  a  leopard. 

One  of  the  Tette  slaves,  who  wished  to  be  considered  a 
great  traveller,  gave  us,  as  we  sat  by  our  evening  fire,  an 
interesting  account  of  a  strange  race  of  men  whom  he  had 
seen  in  the  interior;  they  were  only  three  feet  high,  and 
had  horns  growing  out  of  their  heads ;  they  lived  in  a  large 
town,  and  had  plenty  of  food.  The  Makololo  pooh-poohed 
this  story,  and  roundly  told  the  narrator  that  he  was  telling  a 
downright  lie.  "  We  come  from  the  interior,"  cried  out  a 
tall  fellow,  measuring  some  six  feet  four,  **are  toe  dwarfe? 
have  we  horns  on  our  heads?"  and  thus  they  laughed  the 
fellow  to  scorn.  But  he  still  stoutly  maintained  that  he  had 
seen  these  little  people,  and  had  actually  been  in  their  town ; 
thus  making  himself  the  hero  of  the  traditional  story, 
which  before  and  since  the  time  of  Herodotus  has,  with 
curious  persistency,  clung  to  the  native  mind.  The  mere 
fact  that  such  absurd  notions  are  permanent,  even  in  the 
entire  absence  of  literature,  invests  the  religious  ideas  of 
these  people  also  with  importance,  as  firagments  of  the  wreck 
of  a  primitive  faith  floating  down  the  stream  of  time. 

We  waded  across  the  rapid  Luia,  which  took  us  up  to  the 
waist,  and  was  about  forty  yards  wide.  The  water  was  dis- 
coloured at  the  time,  and  we  were  not  without  apprehension 
that  a  crocodile  might  chance  to  fancy  a  white  man  for  dinner. 
Next  day  one  of  the  men  crawled  over  the  black  rocks  to 
within  ten  yards  of  a  sleeping  hippopotamus,  and  shot  him 
through  the  brain.  The  weather  being  warm,  the  body  floated 
in  a  few  hours,  and  some  of  us  had  our  first  trial  of  hippo- 


Chap.  n.  DIFFICULT  TRAVELLING.  59 

potamns  flesh.  It  is  a  coarse-grained  meat,  sometliing  be- 
tween pork  and  beef, — ^pretty  good  food  when  one  is  hungry 
and  can  get  nothing  better.  When  we  reached  the  foot  of 
the  mountaiQ  named  Chipereziwa,  whose  perpendicular  rocky 
sides  are  clothed  with  many-coloured  lichens,  our  Portuguese 
companion  informed  us  there  were  no  more  obstructions 
to  navigation,  the  river  being  all  smooth  above;  he  had 
hunted  there  and  knew  it  welL  Supposing  that  the  object 
of  our  trip  was  accomplished  we  turned  back;  but  two 
natives,  who  came  to  our  camp  at  night,  assured  us  that 
a  cataract,  called  Morumbwa,  did  still  exist  in  front  Drs. 
Livingstone  and  Eirk  then  decided  to  go  forward  with 
three  Makololo  and  settle  the  question  for  themselves. 
It  was  as  tough  a  bit  of  travel  as  they  ever  had  in  Africa, 
and  after  some  painful  marching  the  Bad^ma  guides  refused 
to  go  further;  "the  Banyai,"  they  said,  "would  be  angry 
if  they  showed  white  men  the  country;  and  there  was 
besides  no  practicable  approach  to  the  spot,  neither  ele- 
phant, nor  hippopotamus,  nor  even  a  crocodile  could  reach 
the  cataract."  The  slopes  of  the  mountains  on  each  side  of 
the  river,  now  not  800  yards  wide,  and  without  the  flattish 
flood-channel  and  groove,  were  more  than  3000  feet  from 
the  sky-line  down,  and  were  covered  either  with  dense 
thombush,  or  huge  black  boulders;  this  deep  trough-like 
shape  caused  the  sun's  rays  to  converge  as  into  a  focus, 
making  the  surface  so  hot  that  the  soles  of  the  feet  of 
the  Makololo  became  blistered.  Around,  and  up  and  down, 
the  party  clambered  among  these  heated  blocks,  at  a 
pace  not  exceeding  a  mile  an  hour ;  the  strain  upon  the 
muscles  in  jumping  from  crag  to  boulder,  and  wriggling 
round  projections,  took  an  enormous  deal  out  of  them,  and 
they  were  often  glad  to  cower  in  the  shadow  formed  by 


60  CURATIVE  SLEEP.  Chap.  IL 

one  rock  OTerhanging  and  resting  on  another;  the  shelter 
induced  the  peculiarly  strong  and  overpowering  inclination 
to  sleep,  which  too  much  sun  sometimes  causes.  This  sleep 
is  curative  of  what  may  be  incipient  sunstroke :  in  its  first 
gentle  touches,  it  caused  the  dream  to  flit  over  the  boiling 
brain,  that  they  had  become  lunatics  and  had  been  sworn  in 
as  members  of  the  Alpine  club;  and  then  it  became  so 
heavy  that  it  made  them  feel  as  if  a  portion  of  existence  had 
been  cut  out  from  their  lives.  The  sun  is  excessively  hot^ 
and  feels  sharp  in  Africa;  but,  probably  from  the  greater 
dryness  of  the  atmosphere,  we  never  heard  of  a  single  case 
of  sunstroke,  so  common  in  India.  The  Makololo  told  Dr. 
Livingstone  they  "  always  thought  he  had  a  heart,  but  now 
they  believed  he  had  none,"  and  tried  to  persuade  Dr.  Kirk 
to  return,  on  the  ground  that  it  must  be  evident  that,  in 
attempting  to  go  where  no  living  foot  could  tread,  his  leader 
had  given  unmistakeable  signs  of  having  gone  mad.  All 
their  efforts  of  persuasion,  however,  were  lost  upon  Dr.  Eirk, 
as  he  had  not  yet  learned  their  language,  and  his  leader 
knowing  his  companion  to  be  equally  anxious  with  himself  to 
#6olve  the  problem  of  the  navigableness  of  Eebrabasa,  was  not 
at  pains  to  enlighten  him.  At  one  part  a  bare  mountain  spur 
barred  the  way,  and  had  to  be  surmounted  by  a  perilous  and 
circuitous  route,  along  which  the  crags  were  so  hot  that  it 
was  scarcely  possible  for  the  hand  to  hold  on  long  enough  to 
ensure  safety  in  the  passage;  and  had  the  foremost  of  the 
party  lost  his  hold,  he  would  have  hurled  all  behind  him  into 
the  river  at  the  foot  of  the  promontory;  yet  in  this  wild  hot 
region,  as  they  descended  again  to  the  river,  they  met  a  fish- 
erman casting  his  hand-net  into  the  boiling  eddies,  and  he 
pointed  out  the  cataract  of  Morumbwa ;  within  an  hour  they 
were  trying  to  measure  it  fit)m  an  oVferhanging  rock,  at  a 


Chap.  II.  MOUNT  MORUMBWA.  61 

height  of  ahont  one  hundred  feet  When  you  stand  fietcing 
the  cataract^  on  the  north  bank,  you  see  that  it  is  situated 
in  a  sudden  bend  of  the  riTer,  which  is  flowing  in  a  short 
curre ;  the  river  above  it  is  jammed  between  two  mountains 
in  a  channel  with  perpendicular  sides,  and  less  than  fifty 
yards  wide ;  one  or  two  masses  of  rock  jut  out,  and  then 
there  is  a  sloping  fall  of  perhaps  twenty  feet  in  a  distance  of 
thirty  yards.  It  would  stop  all  navigation,  exoept  during  the 
highest  floods ;  the  rocks  showed  that  the  water  then  rises 
upwards  of  eighty  feet  perpendicularly. 

Still  keeping  the  position  facing  the  cataract,  on  its  right 
side  rises  Mount  Morumbwa  from  2000  to  8000  feet  high^ 
which  gives  the  name  to  the  spot  On  the  left  of  the 
cataract  stands  a  noticeable  mountain  which  may  be  called 
onion-shaped,  for  it  is  partly  conical,  and  a  large  concave 
flake  has  peeled  ofl*,  as  granite  often  does,  and  left  a 
broad,  smooth  convex  face  as  if  it  were  an  enormous  bulb. 
These  two  mountains  extend  their  bases  northwards  about 
half  a  mile,  and  the  river  in  that  distance,  still  very  narrow, 
is  smooth,  with  a  few  detached  rocks  standing  out  from  its 
bed.  They  climbed  as  high  up  the  base  of  Mount  Mommbwai 
which  touches  the  cataract,  as  they  required.  The  rocks 
were  all  waterwom  and  smooth,  with  huge  pot-holes,  even 
at  100  feet  above  low  water.  When  at  a  later  period 
they  climbed  up  the  north-western  base  of  this  same 
mountain,  the  feimiliar  face  of  the  onion-shaped  one  oppo- 
site was  at  once  recognised ;  one  point  of  view  on  the  talus 
of  Mount  Morumbwa  was  not  more  that  700  or  800  yards 
distant  from  the  other,  and  they  then  completed  the  survey 
of  Kebrabasa  from  end  to  end. 

They  did  not  attempt  to  return  by  the  way  they  came, 
but  scaled  the  slope  of  the  mountain  on  the  north.    It 


62        KEBRABASA  SURVEY  COMPLETED.    Chap.  IT. 

took  them  three  hours'  hard  labour  in  cutting  iheii 
way  up  through  the  dense  thombush  which  covered  the 
ascent.  The  face  of  the  slope  was  often  about  an  angle 
of  70®,  yet  their  guide  Shokumbenla,  whose  hard,  homy 
soles,  resembling  those  of  elephants,  showed  that  he  was 
accustomed  to  this  rough  and  hot  work,  carried  a  pot  of 
water  for  them  nearly  all  the  way  up.  They  slept  that 
night  at  a  well  in  a  tufaceous  rock  on  the  N.W.  of  Chi- 
pereziwa,  and  never  was  sleep  more  sweet. 


Chap.  HI.  NATIVE  MUSICIANS.  6a 


CHAPTER    III. 

Betom  &om  Kebrabasa — Native  miuicians  and  their  instniments — Ignorance 
at  Tetie  —  Changes  produced  by  rain  after  hot  season — Ghristmafi  in  tropi- 
cal dress — Opinions  modified  bj  early  associations  in  Northern  climes — 
The  seasons  at  Tette  —  Ck>tton-seed  not  needed  —  African  fever  —  Quinino 
not  a  preventive  of — The  best  precaution  and  remedy — "Warburgh's 
drops"  — Expedition  turns  from  Kebrabasa  towards  River  Shire  in  January, 
1859 — Reported  barrier  to  navigation — First  intercourse  with  unknown 
people — Navigation  of  Shire — Progress  prevented  by  Murohison's  cataracts 
—  Return  to  Tette  —  Second  trip  up  the  Shire  in  March,  1859  — Chibisa  — 
Nyanja  Mukulu  —  Maniac  guides — Discover  Lake  Shirwa  on  18th  April, 
1859  —  Mountains — Return  to  vessel  —  Severe  case  of  fever — Return  to 
Tetto  23rd  June — Vessel  finmd  to  be  built  of  unstable  materials — At  Kon- 
gone  in  August 

A  BAND  of  native  musicians  came  to  our  camp  one  eyening^ 
on  our  own  way  down,  and  treated  us  with  their  wild  and  not 
unpleasant  music  on  the  Marimba,  an  instrument  formed  of 
bars  of  hard  wood  of  varying  breadth  anJ  thickness,  laid 
on  different-sized  hollow  calabashes,  and  tuned  to  give  the 
notes;  a  few  pieces  of  cloth  pleased  them,  and  they 
passed  on« 

Ab  our  companion  had  told  us,  the  people  were  perfectly 
willing  to  sell  us  provisions  on  our  way  back.  When  we  ai'- 
rived  at  Tette  the  Commandant  informed  us  that,  shortly  after 
we  had  left,  the  river  rose  a  foot  and  became  turbid ;  and  on 
seeing  this,  a  native  Portuguese  came  to  him  with  a  grave 
countenance,  and  said,  '^  That  Englishman  is  doing  something 
to  the  river."  This,  we  regret  to  say,  is  a  fair  sample  of  the 
ignorance  and  superstition  common  to  the  native-bom,  and, 
unfortunately,  sometimes  shared  in  even  by  men  reared 


Gi  DELIGHTFUL  EFFECTS  OF  RAIN.  Chap.  HI, 

in  Portugal.  While  we  were  at  Tette,  a  Captain  of  Infantry 
was  sent  prisoner  to  Mosambique,  for  administering  the 
Muaye,  or  ordeal,  and  for  patting  the  suspected  person  to 
death  on  that  evidence  alone. 

At  the  end  of  the  hot  season  everything  is  dry  and  dusty ; 
the  atmosphere  is  loaded  with  blue  haze,  and  very  sultry. 
After  the  rains  begin,  the  face  of  the  country  changes  with 
surprising  rapidity  for  the  better.  Though  we  have  not  the 
moist  hothouse-like  atmosphere  of  the  west  coast,  fresh  green 
herbage  quickly  springs  up  over  the  hills  and  dales,  so 
lately  parched  and  brown.  The  air  becomes  cleared  of  the 
smoky-looking  haze,  and  one  sees  to  great  distances  with 
ease ;  the  landscape  is  bathed  in  a  perfect  flood  of  b'ght,  and 
a  delightful  sense  of  freshness  is  given  from  everything  in  the 
morning  before  the  glare  of  noon  overpowers  the  eye.  On 
asking  one  of  the  Bechuanas  once,  what  he  understood  by  the 
word  used  for  "  holiness  "  (boits^pho)  ?  he  answered,  "  When 
copious  showers  have  descended  during  the  night,  and  all 
the  earth  and  leaves  and  cattle  are  washed  clean,  and  the 
sun  rising  shows  a  drop  of  dew  on  every  blade  of  grass,  and 
the  air  breathes  fresh,  that  is  holiness."  The  young  foliage 
of  several  trees,  more  especially  on  the  highlands,  comes  out 
brown,  pale  red,  or  pink,  like  the  hues  of  autumnal  leaves 
in  England ;  and  as  the  leaves  increase  in  size  they  change 
to  a  pleasant  fresh  light  green ;  bright  white,  scarlet,  pink, 
and  yellow  flowers  are  everywhere;  and  some  few  of  dark 
crimson,  like  those  of  the  kigelia,  give  warmth  of  colouring  to 
Nature's  garden.  Many  trees,  such  as  the  scarlet  erythrina, 
attract  the  eye  by  the  beauty  of  their  blossoms.  The  white, 
full  bloom  of  the  baobab,  coming  at  times  before  the  rains, 
and  the  small  and  delicate  flowers  of  other  trees,  grouped 
into  rich  clusters,  deck  the  forest.    Myriads  of  wild  bees  are 


Chap.  III.       VARIETIES  OF  BIRDS  AND  INSECTS.  65 

busy  from  momiiig  tOl  night  Some  of  the  acacias  possess  a 
peculiar  attraction  for  one  species  of  beetle ;  while  the  palm 
allures  others  to  congregate  on  its  ample  leaves.  Insects  of 
all  sorts  are  now  in  fall  force ;  brilliant  butterflies  flit  fix>m 
flower  to  flower,  and,  with  the  charming  little  sun-birds, 
which  represent  the  humming-birds  of  America  and  the 
West  Indies,  never  seem  to  tire.  Multitudes  of  ants  are 
hard  at  work  hunting  for  food,  or  bearing  it  home  in 
triumph.  The  winter  birds  of  passage,  such  as  the  yellow 
wagtail  and  blue  drongo  shrikes,  have  all  gone,  and  other 
kinds  have  come;  the  brown  kite  with  his  piping  like  a 
boatswain's  whistle,  the  spotted  cuckoo  with  a  call  like 
"pula,**  and  the  roller  and  horn-bill  with  their  loud  high 
notes,  are  occasionally  distinctly  heard,  though  generally 
this  harsher  music  is  half  drowned  in  the  volume  of  sweet 
somids  poured  forfli  &om  many  a  throbbing  throat,  which 
makes  an  African  Christmas  seem  like  an  English  May. 
Some  birds  of  the  weaver  kind  have  laid  aside  their  winter 
garments  of  a  sober  brown,  and  appear  in  a  gay  summer  dress 
of  scarlet  and  jet  black ;  others  have  passed  from  green  to 
bright  yellow  with  patches  like  black  velvet.  The  brisk  little 
cock  whydah-bird  with  a  pink  bill,  after  assuming  his  summer 
garb  of  black  and  white,  has  graceful  plumes  attached  to  his 
new  coat ;  his  finery,  as  some  believe,  is  to  please  at  least 
seven  hen  birds  with  which  he  is  said  to  live.  Birds  of 
song  are  not  entirely  confined  to  villages;  but  they  have 
in  Afirica  so  often  been  observed  to  congregate  around  viUages, 
as  to  produce  the  impression  that  song  and  beauty  may  have 
been  intended  to  please  the  ear  and  eye  of  man,  for  it  is 
only  when  we  approach  the  haunts  of  men  that  we  know 
that  the  tim^  of  the  singing  of  birds  is  come.  We  once 
thought  that  the  little  creatures  wero  attracted  to  man  only 

F 


66  CHRISllIAS  m  TROPICAL  DRESS.  Chap.  III. 

by  grain  and  water,  till  we  saw  deserted  villages,  the  people 
all  swept  off  by  slavery,  with  grain  standing  by  running 
streams,  but  no  birds.  A  red-throated  black  weaver-bird 
comes  in  flocks  a  little  later,  wearing  a  long  train  of  magni- 

• 

ficent  plumes,  which  seem  to  be  greatly  in  his  way  when 
working  for  his  dinner  among  the  long  grass.  A  goatsucker 
or  night  jar  (Cometomis  vexUlariwi)^  only  ten  inches  long 
from  head  to  tail,  also  attracts  the  eye  in  November  by  a 
couple  of  feathers  twenty-six  inches  long  in  the  middle  of 
each  wing,  the  ninth  and  tenth  from  the  outside.  They 
give  a  slow  wavy  motion  to  the  wings,  and  evidently  retard 
his  flight,  for  at  other  times  he  flies  so  quick  that  no  boy 
could  hit  him  with  a  stone.  The  natives  can  kiU  a  hare  by 
throwing  a  club,  and  make  good  running  shots,  but  no  one 
ever  struck  a  night  jar  in  common  dress,  though  in  the 
evening  twiUght  they  settle  close  to  one*s  feet  What  may 
be  the  object  of  the  flight  of  the  male  bird  being  retarded 
we  cannot  tell.  The  males  alone  possess  these  feathers,  and 
only  for  a  time. 

It  appears  strcmge  to  have  Christmas  come  in  such  a 
cheerful  bright  season  as  this ;  one  can  hardly  recognise 
it  in  summer  dress,,  with  singing  birds,  springing  com,  and 
flowery  plains,  instead  of  in  the  winter  robes  of  bygone  days, 
when  the  keen  bracing  air,  and  ground  dad  in  a  mantle  of 
snow,  made  the  cozy  fireside  meeting-place  of  families  doubly 
comfortable.  The  associations  of  early  days  spent  in  a 
Northern  clime  dispose  us  to  view  other  lands  with  rather 
contracted  notions,  and,  like  the  Esquimaux  who  were 
brought  to  Europe,  to  look  cheerlessly  at  this  sunny  portion 
of  our  fair  world,  which  is  unhealthy  only  because  the  ex- 
uberant fertility  with  which  the  Maker  has  endowed  it  to 
yield  abundant  food  for  man  and  beast,  is  allowed  to  run 


Chap,  IIL         ERRONEOUS  EUROPEAN  NOTIONS.  67 

to  waste.  In  reference  to  it,  and  its  inhabitants,  it  was 
long  ago  remarked,  that  in  Afiica  everything  was  contrary ; 
^wool  grows  on  the  heads  of  men,  and  hair  on  the  backs  of 
sheep."  In  feeble  imitation  of  this  dogma  let  ns  add,  that  the 
men  often  wear  their  hair  long,  the  women  scarcely  ever. 
Where  there  are  cattle,  the  women  till  the  land,  plant  the 
com,  and  build  the  huts.  The  men  stay  at  home  to  sew,  spin, 
weave,  and  talk,  and  milk  the  cows.  The  men  seem  to  pay 
a  dowry  for  their  wives  instead  of  getting  one  with  them. 
The  mountaineers  of  Europe  are  reckoned  hospitable,  gene- 
rous, and  brave.  Those  of  this  part  of  Africa  are  feeble, 
spiritless,  and  cowardly,  even  when  contrasted  with  their 
own  countrymen  on  the  plains.  Some  Europeans  aver  that 
Africans  and  themselves  are  descended  from  monkeys.  Some 
Africans  believe  that  souls  at  death  pass  into  the  bodies  of 
apes.  Most  writers  believe  the  blacks  to  be  savages,  nearly 
all  blacks  believe  the  whites  to  be  cannibals.  The  nursery 
hobgoblin  of  the  one  is  black,  of  the  other  white.  Without 
going  farther  on  with  these  unwise  comparisons,  we  must 
smile  at  the  heaps  of  nonsense  which  have  been  written 
about  the  negro  intellect.  When  for  greater  eflEect  we  em- 
ploy broken  English,  and  use  silly  phrases  as  if  transla- 
tions of  remarks,  which,  ten  to  one,  were  never  made, 
we  have  unconsciously  caricatured  ourselves  and  not  the 
negroes;  for  it  is  a  curious  fdct  that  Europeans  almost 
invariably  begin  to  speak  with  natives  by  adding  the  letters 
e  and  o  to  their  words  "  Give^  me  como,  me  givee  you  bis- 
cuito,"  or  "Looko,  looko,  me  want«  beero  much^.**  Our 
sailors  began  thus,  though  they  had  never  seen  blacks 
before.  It  seemed  an  innate  idea  that  they  could  thus  suit 
English  to  a  people  who  all  speak  a  beautiful  language, 
and  have  no  vulgar  patois.     Owing   to   the   difference  of 

F  2 


68  TRAVELLERS*  LINGUISTIC  MISTAKES.      Chap.  IH. 

idiom,  very  few  Europeans  acquire  an  accurate  knowledge 
of  African  tongues  unless  they  begin  to  learn  when  young. 
A  complaint  as  to  the  poverty  of  the  language  is  often  only 
a  sure  proof  of  the  scanty  attainments  of  the  complainant, 
and  gross  mistakes  are  often  made  by  the  most  experienced. 
We  once  caught  a  sound  like  "Syria"  as  the  name  of  a 
country  o!i  the  other  side  of  a  river.  It  was  '^Psidia,'* 
and  meant  only  the  " other  side"  A  grave  professor  put 
down  in  a  scientific  work  "  Kaia  "  as  the  native  name  of 
a  certain  h'zard.  Kaia  simply  means  "  I  don't  know ! "  the 
answer  which  he  received.  This  name  was  also  applied  iu 
equal  innocence  to  a  range  of  mountains.  Every  one  can 
recal  mistakes,  the  remembrance  of  which,  in  after  years, 
brings  Q.  blush  to  his  brow.  In  general  the  opinion  of  an 
intelligent  missionary  who  has  diligently  studied  the  language 
is  superior  to  that  of  any  traveller.  Quite  as  sensible  if  not 
more  pertinent  answers  will  usually  be  given  by  AMcans 
to  those  who  know  their  language,  as  are  obtained  from  our 
own  uneducated  poor ;  and  could  we  but  forget  that  a  couple 
of  centuries  back,  the  ancestors  of  common  people  in  Eng« 
land — probably  our  own  greatrgreat-grandfathers — were  as 
unenlightened  as  the  Africans  are  now,  we  might  maunder 
away  about  intellect,  and  fancy  that  the  tacit  inference 
would  be  drawn  that  our  own  is  Arch-Angelic.  The  low 
motives  which  often  actuate  the  barbarians  do,  unfortu- 
nately, bear  abundant  crops  of  mean  actions  among  servants 
and  even  in  higher  ranks  of  more  civilized  people ;  but  we 
hope  that  these  may  decrease  in  the  general  improvement 
of  our  race  by  the  diffusion  of  true  religion. 

Dr.  Kirk  very  properly  divides  the  year  into  three  seasons, 
a  cold,  a  hot,  and  a  raiuy  season.  The  cold  period  lasts 
through  May,  June,  and  July ;  the  hot  prevails  in  August, 


Chap.  UL  .SEASONS  AT  TETTE*  69 

September,  and  October.    The  rains  may  be  expected  daring 
the  remaining  months  of  the  year. 

The  rainy  season  of  Tette  differs  a  little  from  thai  of  some 
of  the  other  intertropical  regions ;  the  qntotity  of  rain-fiill 
being  considerably  less.  It  begins  in  November  and  ends  in 
ApriL  During  our  first  season  in  that  place,  only  a  little  over 
nineteen  inches  of  rttin  fell.  In  an  average  year,  and  when 
the  crops  are  good,  the  Ml  amounts  to  about  thirty*five 
inches.  On  many  days  it  does  Dot  rain  at  all,  and  rarely  is 
it  wet  all  day ;  some  days  have  merely  a  passing  shower, 
preceded  and  followed  by  hot  sunshine ;  occasionally  an  in- 
terval of  a  week,  or  even  a  fortnight,  passes  without  a  drop 
of  rain,  and  then  the  crops  suffer  from  the  sun.  These 
partial  droughts  happen  in  December  and  January,  The 
heat  appears  to  increase  to  a  certain  point  in  the  different 
latitude^  so  as  t6  necessitate  a  change,  by  some  law  similar 
to  that  which  regulates  the  intense  cold  in  other  countries. 
After  several  days  of  progressive  heat  here,  on  the  hottest  of 
which  the  thermometer  probably  reaches  103^  in  the  shade, 
a  break  occurs  in  the  weather,  and  a  thunderstorm  dools  the 
air  for  a  time.  At  Kuruman,  when  the  thermometer  stood 
above  84°,  rain  might  be  expected;  at  Kolobeng,  the  point 
at  which  we  looked  for  a  storm  -was  96°,  The  24ambesi  is  in 
flood  twice  in  the  course  of  the  jeai;  the  first  flood,  a 
partial  one,  attains  its  greatest  height  about  the  end  of 
December  or  beginning  of  January;  the  second,  and 
greatest,  occurs  after  the  river  inundates  the  interior,  in  a 
manner  similar  to  the  overflow  of  the  Nile,  this  rise  not 
taking  place  at  Tette  until  March.  The  Portuguese  say 
that  the  greatest  height  which  the  March  floods  attain  is 
thirty  feet  at  Tette,  and  this  happens  only  about  every 
fourth  year;   their  observations,  however,  have  never  been 


70  EEVISIT  KEBRABASA.  Chap.  UI. 

very  accurate  on  anything  but  irory,  and  they  have  in  this 
case  trusted  to  memory  alone.  The  only  fluviometer  at  Tette^ 
or  anywhere  else  on  the  river,  was  set  up  at  our  suggestion ; 
and  the  first  flood  was  at  its  greatest  height  of  thirteen  feet 
six  inches  on  the  17th  January,  1859,  and  tlien  gradually  fell 
a  few  feet,  until  succeeded  by  the  greater  flood  of  March. 
The  river  rises  suddenly,  the  water  is  highly  discoloured  and 
impure,  and  there  is  a  four-knot  current  in  many  places; 
but  in  a  day  or  two  after  the  first  rush  of  waters  is  passed, 
the  current  becomes  more  equally  spread  over  the  whole 
bed  of  the  river,  and  resumes  its  usual  rate  in  the  channel, 
although  continuing  in  flood.  The  Zambesi  water  at  other 
times  is  almost  chemically  pure,  and  the  photographer  would 
find  that  it  is  nearly  as  good  as  distilled  water  for  the  nitrate 
of  silver  bath. 

A  third  visit  to  Eebrabasa  was  made  for  the  pur- 
pose of  ascertaining  whether  it  might  be  navigable  when 
the  Zambesi  was  in  flood,  the  chief  point  of  interest  being 
of  course  Morumbwa;  it  was  found  that  the  rapids  ob- 
served in  our  first  trip  had  disappeared,  and  that  while 
they  were  smoothed  over,  in  a  few  places  the  current  had  in- 
creased in  strength.  As  the  river  fell  rapidly  while  we  were 
on  the  journey,  the  cataract  of  Morumbwa  did  not  differ 
materially  fix)m  what  it  was  when  discovered.  Some  fisher- 
men assured  us  that  it  was  not  visible  when  the  river  was 
at  its  fullest,  and  that  the  current  was  then  not  very  strong. 
On  this  occasion  we  travelled  on  the  right  bank,  and  found 
it,  with  the  additional  iuconvenience  of  rain,  as  rough  and 
fatiguing  as  the  left  had  been.  Our  progress  was  impeded 
by  the  tall  wet  grass  and  dripping  boughs,  and  consequent 
fever.  During  the  earlier  part  of  the  journey  we  came 
upon  a  few  deserted    hamlets    only;    but    at    last   in  a 


Chap.  IH.  COTTON-SEED  NOT  NEEDED.  71 

pleasant  valley  vre  met  some  of  the  people  of  the  comitry, 
who  were  miserably  poor  and  hungry.  The  women  were 
gatiiering  wild  fruits  in  the  woods.  A  young  man  having 
consented  for  two  yards  of  cotton  cloth  to  show  us  a  short 
path  to  the  cataract  led  us  up  a  steep  hill  to  a  village 
perched  on  the  edge  of  one  of  its  precipices;  a  thunder- 
storm coming  on  at  the  time,  the  headman  invited  us  to 
take  shelter  in  a  hut  until  it  had  passed.  Our  guide 
having  informed  him  of  what  he  knew  and  conceived  to  be 
our  object,  was  favoured  in  return  with  a  long  reply  in 
well-sounding  blank  verse;  at  the  end  of  every  line  the 
guide,  who  listened  with  deep  attention,  responded  with  a 
grunt,  which  soon  became  so  ludicrous  that  our  men  burst 
into  a  loud  laugh.  Neither  the  poet  nor  the  responsive 
guide  took  the  slightest  notice  of  their  rudeness,  but  kept 
on  as  energetically  as  ever  to  the  end.  The  speech,  or 
more  probably  our  bad  manners,  made  some  impression  on 
our  guide,  for  he  declined,  although  offered  double  pay,  to 
go  any  further. 

We  brought  cotton-seed  to  Africa,  in  ignorance  that  the 
cotton  already  introduced  was  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  the 
common  American,  and  offered  it  to  any  of  the  Portuguese 
and  natives  who  chose  to  cultivate  it;  but,  though  some  tried 
this  source  of  wealth,  it  was  evident  that  their  ideas  could 
not  soar  beyond  black  ivory,  as  they  call  slaves,  elephant's 
tusks,  and  a  little  gold-dust. 

A  gi'cat  deal  of  fever  comes  in  with  March  and.  April ;  in 
March,  if  considerable  intervals  take  place  between  the 
rainy  days,  and  in  April  always,  for  then  large  surfaces 
of  mud  and  decaying  vegetation  are  exposed  to  the  hot 
sun.  In  general  an  attack  does  not  continue  long,  but  it 
pulls  one  down  quickly;  though  when  the  fever  is  checked 


72  AEKICAN  FEVER.  Chap.  III. 

the  strength  is  as  quickly  restored.  It  had  long  been 
observed  that  those  who  were  stationed  for  any  length  of 
time  in  one  spot,  and  lived  sedentary  lives,  sufifered  more 
from  fever  than  others  who  moved  about  and  had  both 
mind  and  body  occupied ;  but  we  could  not  all  go  in  the  small 
vessel  when  she  made  her  trips,  during  which  the  change 
of  place  and  scenery  proved  so  conducive  to  health;  and 
some  of  us  were  obliged  to  remain  in  charge  of  the  expedition's 
property,  making  occasional  branch  trips  to  examine  objects  of 
int^est  in  the  vicinity.  Whatever  may  be  the  cause  of  the 
fever,  we  observed  tliat  all  were  often  affected* at  the  same 
time,  as  if  from  malaria.  This  was  particularly  the  case 
during  a  north  wind:  it  was  at  first  commonly  believed 
that  a  daily  dose  of  quinine  would  prevent  the  attack. 
For  a  number  of  months  all  our  men,  except  two,  took  quinine 
regularly  every  morning.  The  fever  sometimes  attacked  the 
believers  in  quinine,  while  the  unbelievers  in  its  prophy- 
lactic powers  escaped.  Whether  we  took  it.  daily,  or  omitted 
it  altogether  for  months,  made  no  difference ;  the  fever  was 
impartial,  and  seized  us  on  the  days  of  quinine  as  regularly 
and  as  severely  as  when  it  remained  undisturbed  in  the 
medicine  chest,  and  we  finally  abandoned  the  use  of  it  as  a 
prophylactic  altogether.  The  best  preventive  against  fever 
is  plenty  of  interesting  work  to  do,  and  abundance  of  whole- 
some food  to  eat.  To  a  man  well  housed  and  clothed,  who 
enjoys  these  advantages,  the  fever  at  Tette  will  not  prove  a  more 
formidable  enemy  than  a  common  cold ;  but  let  one  of  these 
be  wanting — let  Mm  be  indolent,  or  guilty  of  excesses  in 
eating  or  drinking,  or  have  poor,  scanty  fare, — and  the  fever 
will  probably  become  a  more  serious  matter.  It  is  of  a 
milder  type  at  Tette  than  at  Quillimane  or  on  the  low  sea- 
coast;    and,   as  in  this  part    of  Africa   one  is   as  liable 


Chap.  HI. 


MEl'HOD  OP  TREATMENT. 


73 


to  fever,  as  to  colds  in  England,  it  would  be  advisable 
for  strangers  always  to  hasten  from  the  coast  to  the 
higher  lands,  in  order  that  when  the  seizure  does  take 
place,  it  may  be  of  the  mildest  type.  This  having  been 
pointed  out  by  Dr.  Eirk,  the  Portuguese  authorities  after- 
wards took  the  hint,  and  sent  the  next  detachment  of  soldiers 
at  once  up  to  Tette.  It  consisted  of  eighty  men,  and  in  spite 
of  the  irregularities  committed,  most  of  them  being  of  the 
class  termed  '^  incorrigibles,"  in  three  years  only  ten  died,  and 
but  five  of  fever.  Although  quinine  was  not  found  to  be 
a  preventive,  except  possibly  in  the  way  of  acting  as  a 
tonic,  and  rendering  the  system  more  able  to  resist  the  in- 
fluence of  malaria,  it  was  found  invaluable  in  the  cure  of  the 
complaint,  as  soon  as  pains  in  the  back,  sore  bones,  headache, 
yawBing,  quick  and  sometimes  intermittent  pulse,  noticeable 
pulsations  of  the  jugulars,  with  suffused  eyes,  hot  stdn, 
and  foul  tongue,  began.* 

Very  curious  are  the  effects  of  African  fever  ou  certain 


'^  A  lemedy  composed  of  tram  six 
to  eight  grains  of  resin  of  jalap,  the 
same  of  rhnbarb,  and  threo  each  of 
calomel  and  quinine,  made  up  into 
four  pills,  with  tincture  of  cardamoms, 
usually  relieved  all  the  symptoms  in 
five  or  six  hours.  Four  pills  ore  a  full 
doee  for  a  man — one  will  suffice  for  a 
woman.  Thoy  received  from  our  men 
the  name  of  '^rousers,"  from  their 
efficacy  in  rousing  up  even  tliose  most 
prostrated.  When  their  operation  is 
delay^,  a  dessert-spoonful  of  Epsom 
salts  should  be  given.  Quinine  after 
or  during  the  operation  of  the  pills,  in 
large  doses  every  two  or  three  hours, 
until  deafriess  or  cinchonism  ensued, 
completed  the  cure.  The  only  cases 
in  which  we  found  ourselves'  com* 


pletely  helpless,  were  ihoee  in  which 
obstinate  vomiting  ensued.  We  had 
received  from  Viscount  Torrington  a 
handsome  supply  of  "Warburgh's 
fever  drops,"  a  medicine  much 
esteemed  in  India ;  and  in  considem- 
tion  of  his  lordship's  kindness  in 
furnishing  the  drug  at  a  considerable 
expense,  as  well  as  from  a  desire  to 
find  out  a  remedy  that  might  be  relied 
on  for  this  formidable  disease,  we  gave 
it  as  fair  a  trial  as  was  in  our  power. 
In  the  shivering  stage  it  caused 
warmth,  but  did  not  cure.  One  old 
man  seemed  cured,  but  died  a  day 
or  two  afterwards.  We  regret  that 
we  cannot  recommend  it  for  Africa, 
though  we  know  of  its  high  repute  in 
India. 


74  MENTAL  EFFECTS  OF  FEVER.  Chap.  m. 

minds.  Cheerfulness  vanishesiy  and  the  whole  mental 
horizon  is  overcast  with  black  clouds  of  gloom  and  sadness* 
The  liveliest  joke  cannot  provoke  even  the  semblance  of  a 
smile.  The  countenance  is  grave,  the  eyes  suffused,  and  the 
few  utterances  are  made  in  the  piping  voice  of  a  wailing^ 
infant.  An  irritable  temper  is  often  the  first  symptom  of 
approaching  fever.  At  such  times  a  man  feels  very  mnch 
like  a  fool,  if  he  does  not  act  like  one.  Nothing  is  right> 
nothing  pleases  the  fever-stricken  victim.  He  is  peevish, 
prone  to  find  fault  and  to  contradict,  and  think  liim* 
self  insulted,  and  is  exactly  what  an  Irish  naval  surgeoa 
before  a  court-martial  defined  a  drunken  man  to  be:  "a  man 
unfit  for  society."  If  a  party  were  all  soaked  full  of  malaria 
at  once,  the  life  of  the  leader  of  the  expedition  would  be  made 
a  burden  to  him.  One  might  come  with  lengthened  visage, 
and  urge  as  a  good  reason  for  his  despair,  if  further  progress 
were  attempted,  that  "  he  had  broken  the  photograph  of  his 
wife ; "  another,  « that  his  proper  position  was  unjustly  with- 
held because  special  search  was  not  directed  towards  *the  ten 
lost  tribes.' "  It  is  dangerous  to  rally  such  a  one,  for  the 
irate  companion  may  quote  Scripture,  and  point  to  their 
habitat  **  beyond  the  rivers  of  Ethiopia."  When  a  man 
begins  to  feel  that  everything  is  meant  to  his  prejudice, — 
he  either  takes  a  dose  of  "  rousers,"  or  writes  to  the  news- 
papers, according  to  the  amount  of  sense  with  which  nature 
has  endowed  him. 

Finding  that  it  was  impossible  to  take  our  steamer  of  only 
ten-horse  power  through  Kebrabasa,  and  convinced  that,  in 
order  to  force  a  passage  when  the  river  was  in  flood,  much 
greater  power  was  required,  due  information  was  forwarded 
to  Her  Majesty's  Government,  and  application  made  for  a 
more  suitable  vessel.    Our  attention  was  in  the  mean  time 


Chap.  IU.  EXPLORATION  OP  THE  SHIRE.  75 

turned  to  the  exploration  of  the  river  Shire,  a  northern  tri- 
butary of  the  Zambesi,  which  joins  it  about  a  hundred  miles 
from  the  sea.    We  could  learn  nothing  satisfactory  from  the 
Portuguese  regarding  this  affluent ;  no  one,  they  said,  had 
ever  been  up  it,  nor  could  they  tell  whence  it  came.    Years  ago 
a  Portuguese  expedition  is  said,  however,  to  have  attempted 
the  ascent,  but  to  have  abandoned  it  on  account  of  the 
impenetrable  duckweed  (PUtia  stratiotei).    Many  asserted, 
on  the  strength  of  this,  that  not  even  canoes  could  force  their 
way  through  the  masses  of  aquatic  plants  that  covered  its 
sur&ce.      Others,  however,  hinted  in  a  private  way  that 
it   was   not    the   duckweed    which  drove  back  the  expe- 
dition,   but   tiie   poisoned    arrows    by    which    the    hostile 
natives  repulsed  the  Portuguese  with  heavy  loss.    No  one 
sent  native  traders  up  the  Shire,  nor  had  intercourse  with 
tiie  treacherous  savages  who  lived  on  its  banks.    A  merchant 
of  Senna  told  us  that  he  once  fitted  out  a  trading  party  which 
went  a  short  distance  up  the  river,  but  the  men  of  it  were 
robbed  and  barely  escaped  with  their  lives.    "  Our  Govern- 
ment,'' said  one  Commandant,  '^  has  sent  us  orders  to  assist 
and  protect  you,  but  you  go  where  we  dare  not  follow,  and 
how  can  we  protect  you?"    We  could  not  learn  from  any 
record  that  the  Shire  had  ever  been  ascended  by  Europeans. 
As  &r,  therefore,  as  we  were  concerned,  the  exploration  was 
absolutely  new.     All  the  Portuguese  believed  the  Manganja 
to  be  brave  but  bloodthirsty  savages ;  and  on  our  return  we 
found  that  soon  after  our  departure  a  report  was  widely 
spread  that  our  temerity  had  been  followed  by  fatal  results. 
Dr.  Livingstone  having  been  shot,  and  Dr.  Kirk  mortally 
wounded  by  poisoned  arrows. 

Our  first  trip  to  the  Shire  was  in  January,  1859.     A 
considerable  quantity  of  duckweed  floated  down  the  river 


70  .  INTERVIEW  WITH  TINGANE,  Chap.  Uh 

for  tlie  first  twenty-five  miles,, but  not  sufficient  to 
interrupt  navigation  with  canoes  or  with  any  other  craft* 
Nearly  the  whole  of  this  aquatic  plant  proceeds  fi'om  a 
marsh  on  the  ^est,  and  comes  into  the  river  a  little 
beyond  a  lofty  hill  called  Mount  Morambala.  Above  that 
there  is  hardly  any.  As  we  approached  the  villages,  the  natives 
collected  in  large  numbers,  armed  with  bows  and  poisoned 
arrows ;  and  some,  dodging  behind  trees,  were  observed  taking 
aim  as  if  on  the  point  of  shooting.  All  the  women  had 
been  sent  out  of  the  way,  and  the  men  were  evidently 
prepared  to  resist  aggression.  At  the  village  of  a  Chief  named 
Tingane,  at  least  five  hundred  natives  collected  and  ordered 
us  to  stop.  Dr.  Livingstone  went  ashore;  and  on  his  explain- 
ing that  we  were  English  and  had  come  neither  to  take  slaves 
nor  to  fight^  but  only  to  open  a  path  by  which  our  country- 
men might  follow  to  purchase  cotton,  or  whatever  else  they 
might  have  to  sell,  except  slaves,  Tingane  became  at  once 
quite  Iriendly.  The  presence  of  the  steamer,  which  showed 
that  they  had  an  entirely  new  people  to  deal  with,  probably 
contributed  to  this  result ;  for  Tingane  was  notorious  for  being 
the  barrier  to  all  intercourse  between  the  Portuguese  black 
traders  and  the  nativies  further  inland ;  none  were  allowed 
to  pass  him  either  way.  He  was  wi  elderly,  well-made  man, 
grey-headed,  and  over  six  feet  high*  Though  somewhat 
excited  by  our  presence,  he  readily  complied  with  the  request 
to  call  his  people  together,  in  order  that  all  might  know  what 
our  objects  were. 

In  commencing  intercourse  with  any  people  we  almost 
always  referred  to  the  English  detestation  of  slavery.  Most  of 
them  already  possess  some  information  respecting  the  efforts 
made  by  the  English  at  sea  to  suppress  the  slave-trade ;  and 
our  work  being  to  induce  them  to  raise  and  sell  cotton,  instead 


Chap.  III.         STATE  OP  REUGIOUS  KNOWLEDGE.  77 

of  capturing  arid  selling  their  fellow-men,  onr  errand  appears 
quite  natural ;  and  as  thev  all  have  clear  ideas  of  their  own 
self-interest^  and  are  keen  traders,  the  reasonableness  of  the 
proposal  is  at  once  admitted ;  and  as  a  belief  in  a  Supreme 
Being,  the  Maker  and  Buler  of  all  things,  and  in  the  continued 
existence  of  departed  spirits  is  universal,  it  becomes  quite 
appropriate  to  explain  that  we  possess  a  Book  containing  a  Ue* 
relation  of  the  will  of  Him,  to  whom  in  their  natural  state  they 
recognise  no  relationship.  The  fact  that  His  Son  appeared 
among  men,  and  left  His  words  in  His  Book,  always  awakens 
attelition ;  but  the  great  difficulty  is  to  make  them  feel  that 
they  have  any  relationship  to  Him,  and  that  He  feels  any 
interest  in  them.  The  numbness  of  moraJ  perception  exhibited, 
is  often  discouraging ;  but  the  mode  of  communication,  either 
by  interpreters,  or  by  the  imperfect  knowledge  of  the 
language,  which  not  even  missionaries  of  talent  can  overcome 
save  by  the  labour  of  many  years,  may,  in  part,  account  for 
the  phenomenon.  However,  the  idea  of  the  Father  of  all 
being  displeased  with  His  children,  for  selling  or  killing  each 
other,  at  once  gains  their  ready  assent:  it  harmonizes  so 
exactly  with  their  own  ideas  of  right  and  wrong.  But,  as  in 
our  own  case  at  home,  nothing  less  than  the  instruction  and 
example  of  many  years  will  secure  their  moral  elevation. 

The  dialect  spoken  here  closely  resembles  that  used  at 
Senna  and  Tette.  We  understood  it  at  first  only  enough  to 
know  whether  our  inteipreter  was  saying  what  we  bade  hun,  or 
was  indulging  in  his  own  version.  After  stating  pretty  nearly 
what  he  was  told,  he  had  an  inveterate  tendency  to  wind  up 
with  "The  Book  says  you  are  to  grow  cotton,  and  the 
English  are  to  come  and  buy  it,"  or  with. some  joke  of  his 
own,  which  might  have  been  ludicrous,  had  it  not  .been 
seriously  distressing. 


78  MURCmSON  CATARACTS.  Chap.  III. 

In  the  first  ascent  of  the  Shire  our  attention  was  chiefly 
directed  to  the  river  itsel£  The  delight  of  threading  out 
the  meanderings  of  upwards  of  200  miles  of  a  hitherto 
unexplored  river  must  be  felt  to  be  appreciated.  All  the 
lower  part  of  the  river  was  found  to  be  at  least  two  &thoms 
in  depth.  It  became  shallower  higher  up,  where  many 
departing  and  re-entering  branches  diminished  the  volume  of 
water,  but  the  absence  of  sandbanks  made  it  easy  of  navi- 
gation. We  had  to  exercise  the  greatest  care  lest  anything 
we  did  should  be  misconstrued  by  the  crowds  who  watched 
us.  After  having  made,  in  a  straight  line,  one  hundred  miles, 
although  the  windings  of  the  river  had  fully  doubled  the 
distance,  we  found  further  progress  with  the  steamer  arrested, 
in  15°  55'  south,  by  magnificent  cataracts,  which  we  called 
"  The  Murchison,"  after  one  whose  name  has  already  a  world- 
wide fame,  and  whose  generous  kindness  we  can  never  repay. 
The  native  name  of  that  figured  in  the  woodcut  is  Mamvira. 
It  is  that  at  which  the  progress  of  the  steamer  was  first 
stopped.  The  angle  of  descent  is  much  smaller  than  that 
of  the  five  cataracts  above  it ;  indeed,  so  small  as  compared 
with  them,  that  after  they  were  discovered  this  was  not  in- 
cluded in  the  number. 

A  few  days  were  spent  here  in  the  hope  that  there  might 
be  an  opportunity  of  taking  observations  for  longitude,  but 
it  rained  most  of  the  time,  or  the  sky  was  overcast.  It  was 
deemed  imprudent  to  risk  a  land  journey  whilst  the  natives 
were  so  very  suspicious  as  to  have  a  strong  guard  on  the  banks 
of  the  river  night  and  day ;  the  weather  also  was  unfavourable. 
After  sending  presents  and  messages  to  two  of  the  Chiefs,  we 
returned  to  Tette.  In  going  down  stream  our  progress  was 
rapid,  as  we  were  aided  by  the  current.  The  hippopotami  never 
made  a  mistake,  but  got  out  of  our  way.     The  crocodiles,  not 


Chap.  UI.  CHARACTER  OP  CHIBISA.  79 

so  wise,  sometimes  rushed  with  great  velocity  at  us,  thiuking 
that  we  were  some  huge  animal  swimming.  They  kept  about 
a  foot  from  the  surface,  but  made  three  well-defined  ripplee 
from  the  feet  and  body,  which  marked  their  rapid  progress ; 
raising  the  head  out  of  the  water  when  only  a  few  yards 
from  the  expected  feast,  down  they  went  to  the  bottom  . 
like  a  stone,  without  touching  the  boat. 

In  the  middle  of  March  of  the  same  year  (1859),  we  started 
again  for  a  second  trip  on  the  Shire.     The  natives  were  now 
friendly,  and  readily  sold  us  rice,  fowls,  and  com.  We  entered 
into  amicable  relations  with  the  Chief,  Chibisa,  whose  village 
was  about  ten  miles  below  the  cataract.  He  had  sent  two  men 
on  our  first  visit  to  invite  us  to  drink  beer;  but  the  steamer 
was  such  a  terrible  apparition  to  them,  that,  after  shouting 
the  invitation,  they  jumped  ashore,  and  left  their  canoe  to 
drift  down  the  stream.  Chibisa  was  a  remarkably  shrewd  man, 
the  very  image,  save  his  dark  hue,  of  one  of  our  most  cele- 
brated London  actors,  and  the  most  intelligent  Chief,  by  far,  in 
this  quarter.  A  great  deal  of  fighting  had  fallen  to  his  lot,  he 
said ;  but  it  was  always  others  who  began ;  he  was  invariably 
in  the  right,  and  they  alone  were  to  blame.    He  was  more- 
over a  firm  believer  in  the  divine  right  of  kings.    He  was  an 
ordinary  man,  he  said,  when  his  father  died,  and  left  him  the 
chieftainship ;  but  directly  he  succeeded  to  the  high  oflBce,  he 
was  conscious  of  power  passing  into  his  head,  and  down  his 
back ;  he  felt  it  enter,  and  knew  that  he  was  a  Chief,  clothed 
with  authority,  and  possessed  of  wisdom ;  and  people  then 
began  to  fear  and  reverence  him.    He  mentioned  this,  as 
one  would  a  fact  of  natural  history,  any  doubt  being  quite 
out  of  the  question.      His  people,  too,  believed  in  him, 
for  they  bathed  in  the  river  without  the  slightest  fear  of 
crocodiles,   the  Chief  having  placed  a  powerful  medicine 


80  TREACHEROUS  GUIDES.  Chap.  HL 

there,  which  protected  them  from  the  bite  of  these  terrible 
reptiles. 

Leaving  the  vessel  opposite  Chibisa's  village,  Drs.  Living- 
stone and  Eirk  and  a  number  of  the  Makololo  started  on  foot 
for  Lake  Shirwa.  They  travelled  in  a  northerly  direction 
over  a  mountainous  country.  The  people  were  far  from 
being  weU-disposed  to  them,  and  some  of  their  guides  tried 
to  mislead  them,  and  could  not  be  trusted.  Masakasa,  a  Mako- 
lolo headman,  overheard  some  remarks,  which  satisfied  him 
that  the  guide  was  leading  them  into  trouble.  He  was  quiet 
till  they  reached  a  lonely  spot,  when  he  came  up  to  Doctor 
Livingstone,  and  said, "  That  fellow  is  bad,  he  is  taking  us  into 
mischief;  my  spear  is  sharp,  and  there  is  no  one  here ;  shall  I 
cast  him  into  the  long  grass?"  Had  the  Doctor  given  the 
slightest  token  of  assent,  or  even  kept  silence,  never  more 
would  any  one  have  been  led  by  that  guide,  for  in  a  twink- 
ling he  would  have  been  where  "the  wicked  cease  from 
tt*oubling."  It  was  afterwards  found  that  in  this  case  there 
was  no  treachery  at  all ;  but  a  want  of  knowledge  on  their 
part  of  the  language,  and  of  the  country.  They  asked  to  be 
led  to  "  Nyanja  Mukulu,"  or  Great  Lake,  meaning,  by  this. 
Lake  Shirwa ;  and  the  guide  took  them  round  a  terribly  rough 
piece  of  mountainous  country,  gradually  edging  away  towards 
a  long  marsh,  which  from  the  numbers  of  those  animals  we 
had  seen  there  we  had  called  the  Elephant  Marsh,  but  which 
was  really  the  place  known  to  him  by  the  name  **  Nyanja 
Mukulu,"  or  Great  Lake.  Nyanja  or  Nyanza  means,  generally, 
a  marsh,  lake,  river,  or  even  a  mere  rivulet. 

The  party  pushed  on  at  last  without  guides,  or  only 
with  crazy  ones;  for,  oddly  enough,  they  were  often 
under  great  obligations  to  the  madmen  of  the  different 
villages:    one    of   these   honoured    them,    as    they    slept 


Chap.  III.  LAKE  SHIRWA  DISCOVERED.  81 

in  the  open  air,  by  dancing  and  singing  at  their  feet  the 
whole  night.  These  poor  fellows  sympathized  with  the  ex- 
plorers, probably  in  the  belief  that  they  belonged  to  their  own 
class ;  and,  uninfluenced  by  the  general  opinion  of  their 
countrymen,  they  really  pitied,  and  took  kindly  to  the 
strangers,  and  often  guided  them  faithfully  from  place  to 
place,  when  no  sane  man  could  be  hired  for  love  or 
money. 

The  bearing  of  the  Manganja  at  this  time  was  very  inde- 
pendent; a  striking  contrast  to  the  cringing  attitude  they 
afterwards  assumed,  when  the  cruel  scourge  of  slave-hunting 
passed  over  their  country.  Signals  were  given  fjx)m  the 
different  villages  by  means  of  drums,  and  notes  of  defiance 
and  intimidation  were  sounded  in  the  travellers*  ears  by  day ; 
and  occasionally  they  were  kept  awake  the  whole  night,  in 
expectation  of  an  instant  attack.  Drs.  Livingstone  and 
Eirk  were  desirous  that  nothing  should  occur  to  make  the 
natives  regard  them  as  enemies;  Masakasa,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  anxious  to  show  what  he  could  do  in  the  way 
of  fighting  them. 

The  perseverance  of  the  party  was  finally  crowned  with 
success;  for  on  the  18th  of  April  they  discovered  Lake 
Shirwa,  a  considerable  body  of  bitter  water,  containing 
leeches,  fish,  crocodiles,  and  hippopotami.  From  having 
probably  no  outlet,  the  water  is  slightly  brackish,  and  it 
appears  to  be  deep,  with  islands  like  hills  rising  out  of  it 
Their  point  of  view  was  at  the  base  of  Mount  Pirimiti  or 
Mopeu-peu,  on  its  S.S.W.  side.  Thence  the  prospect  north- 
wards ended  in  a  sea  horizon  with  two  small  islands  in  the 
distance — a  larger  one,  resembling  a  hill-top  and  covered 
with  trees,  rose  more  in  the  foreground.  Ranges  of  hills 
appeared  on  the  east ;  and  on  the  west  stood  Mount  Chikala, 

G 


82  ASPECT  OF  LAKE  SHIRWA.  Chap.  IIL 

which  seems  to  be  connected  with  the  great  mountain-mass 
called  Zomba. 

The  shore,  near  which  they  spent  two  nights,  was  covered 
with  reeds  and  papyrus.  Wishing  to  obtain  the  latitude  by 
the  natural  horizon,  they  waded  into  the  water  some  distance 
towards  what  was  reported  to  be  a  sandbank,  but  were  so 
assaulted  by  leeches,  they  were  fitin  to  retreat ;  and  a  woman 
told  them  that  in  enticing  them  into  the  water  the  men  only 
wanted  to  kill  them.  The  information  gathered  was  that  this 
lake  was  nothing  in  size  compared  to  anoliier  in  the  north, 
from  which  it  is  separated  by  only  a  tongue  of  land.  The 
northern  end  of  Shirwa  has  not  been  seen,  though  it  has  been 
passed ;  the  length  of  the  lake  may  probably  be  60  or  80  mileef, 
and  about  20  broad.  The  height  above  the  sea  is  1800  feet, 
and  the  taste  of  the  water  is  like  a  weak  solution  of  Epsom 
salts.  The  country  around  is  very  beautiful,  and  clothed 
with  rich  vegetation ;  and  the  waves,  at  the  time  they  were 
there,  breaking  and  foaming  over  a  rock  on  the  south-eastern 
side,  added  to  the  beauty  of  the  pictura  Exceedingly  lofty 
mountains,  perhaps  8000  feet  above  the  sea-level,  stand 
near  the  eastern  shore.  When  their  lofty  steep-sided  summits 
appear,  some  above,  some  below  the  clouds,  the  scene  is  grand. 
This  range  is  called  Milanje;  on  the  west  stands  Mount 
Zomba,  7000  feet  in  height,  and  some  twenty  miles  long. 

Their  object  being  rather  to  gain  the  confidence  of  the 
people  by  degrees,  than  to  explore,  they  considered  that  they 
had  advanced  tax  enough  into  the  country  for  one  trip ;  and 
believing  that  they  could  secure  their  end  by  a  repe- 
tition of  their  visit,  as  they  had  done  on  the  Shire,  they 
decided  to  return  to  the  vessel  at  Dakanamoio  island ;  but^ 
instead  of  returning  by  the  way  they  came,  they  passed  down 
southwards  close  by  Mount  Chiradzuru,  among  the  relatives 


Chap.  IIL  REMEDIES  FOR  FEYER,  83 

of  Chibisa,  and  thence  by  the  pass  Zedi,  down  to  the  Shire. 
And  it  was  well  that  they  got  to  the  ship  when  they  did ;  for 
our  excellent  Quartermaster,  John  Walker,  who  had  been 
1^  in  charge,  had  been  very  iU  of  fever  all  the  time  of 
their  absence;  while  those  who  had  been  roughing  it  for 
twenty-two  days  on  the  hills,  and  sleeping  every  night,  except 
one,  in  the  open  air,  came  back  well  and  hearty.  Bowe,  his 
companion,  who  had  charge  of  the  medicine,  had  not  given 
him  any,  because  he  did  not  know  what  his  illness  wa& 
One  can  scarcely  mistake  the  fever  if  he  attends  to  the 
symptoms  already  enumerated,  or  remembers  that  almost 
every  complaint  in  this  country  is  a  form  of  fever,  or  is 
modified  by  the  malaria.  Walker^s  being  a  very  severe 
case,  a  large  dose  of  calomel  was  at  once  administered. 
This  sometimes  relieves  when  other  remedies  fail,  but 
the  risk  of  salivation  must  be  run.  When  20  grains  are 
taken,  it  may  cause  an  abundant  flow  of  bile,  and  a  cure  be 
the  result.  This  is  mentioned  not  as  a  course  to  be  followed, 
except  when  other  remedies  fail,  or  when  jaundice  super- 
venes. We  have  seen  a  case  of  this  kind  cured  by  a  large 
dose  of  calomel,  when  a  blister  put  on  the  pit  of  the  stomach, 
to  allay  vomiting,  brought  out  serum  as  black  as  porter,  as 
if  the  blood  had  been  impregnated  with  bile.  These  hints  are 
given,  though  we  believe,  as  we  have  before  stated,  that  no 
Mission  or  Expedition  ought  to  enter  the  country,  without  a 
sknM  Btugeon  as  an  essential  part  of  its  staff. 

Quartermaster  Walker  soon  recovered,  though,  from  the 
long  continuance  of  the  fever,  his  system  was  very  much 
more  shaken  than  it  would  have  been,  had  the  medicine  been 
administered  at  once.  The  Kroomen  had,  while  we  were  away, 
cut  a  good  supply  of  wood  for  steaming,  and  we  soon  pro- 
ceeded down  the  river. 

Q  2 


84  CORROSION  OF  THE  STEAMER'S  PLATES.     Chap.  in. 

The  steamer  reached  Tette  on  the  23rd  of  June,  and, 
after  undergoing  repairs,  proceeded  to  the  Kongone  to 
receive  provisions  from  one  of  H.M.  cruisers.  We  had  been 
very  abundantly  supplied  with  first-rate  stores,  but  were  un- 
fortunate enough  to  lose  a  considerable  portion  of  them,  and 
had  now  to  bear  the  privation  as  best  we  could.  On  the  way 
down,  we  purchased  a  few  gigantic  cabbages  and  pumpkins  at 
a  native  village  below  Mazaro.  Our  dinners  had  usually 
consisted  of  but  a  single  course ;  but  we  were  surprised  the 
next  day  by  our  black  cook  from  Sierra  Leone  bearing 
in  a  second  course.  "  What  have  you  got  there  ?"  was  asked 
in  wonder.  "A  tart,  sir."  "A  tartl  of  what  is  it  made?" 
"  Of  cabbage,  sir."  As  we  had  no  sugar,  and  could  not "  make, 
believe,"  as  in  the  days  of  boyhood,  we  did  not  enjoy  the 
feast  that  Tom's  genius  had  prepared.  Her  Majesty's  brig 
**  Persian,"  Lieutenant  Saumarez  commanding,  called  on  her 
way  to  the  Cape ;  and,  though  somewhat  short  of  provisions 
herself,  generously  gave  us  all  she  could  spare.  We  now 
parted  with  our  Kroomen,  as,  from  their  inability  to  march,  we 
could  not  use  them  in  our  land  journeys.  A  crew  was  picked 
out  from  the  Makololo,  who,  besides  being  good  travellers, 
could  cut  wood,  work  the  ship,  and  required  only  native  food. 

While  at  the  Kongone  it  was  found  necessary  to  beach  the 
steamer  for  repairs.  She  was  built  of  a  newly-invented  sort 
of  steel  plates,  only  a  sixteenth  of  an  inch  in  thickness, 
patented,  but  unfortunately  never  tried  before.  To  build  an 
exploring  ship  of  imtried  material  was  a  mistake.  Some 
chemical  action  on  this  preparation  of  steel  caused  a 
minute  hole;  from  this  point,  branches  like  lichens,  or 
the  little  ragged  stars  we  sometimes  see  in  thawing  ice, 
radiated  in  all  directions.  Small  holes  went  through  wherever 
a  bend  occurred  in  these  branches.    The  bottom  very  soon 


Chap.  III.  KAINFALL  UP  THE  ZAMBESI.  85 

became  like  a  sieve,  completely  Ml  of  minute  holes,  which 
leaked  perpetually.  The  engineer  stopped  the  larger  ones, 
but  the  vessel  was  no  sooner  afloat,  than  new  ones  broke  out 
The  first  news  of  a  morning  was  commonly  the  unpleasant 
announcement  of  another  leak  in  the  forward  compartment^  or 
in  the  middle,  which  was  worse  stilL 

Prequent  showers  fell  on  our  way  up  the  Sjambesi,  in  the 
beginning  of  August.  On  the  8th  we  had  upwards  of  three 
inches  of  rain,  which  large  quantity,  more  than  falls  in  any 
single  rainy  day  during  the  season  at  Tette,  we  owed  to  being 
near  the  sea.  Sometimes  the  cabin  was  nearly  flooded ;  for, 
in  addition  to  the  leakage  from  below,  rain  poured  through 
the  roof,  and  an  umbrella  had  to  be  used  whenever  we 
wished  to  write :  the  mode  of  coupling  the  compartments, 
too,  was  a  new  one,  and  the  action  of  the  hinder  com- 
partment on  the  middle  one  pumped  up  the  water  of  the 
river,  and  sent  it  in  streams  over  the  floor  and  lockers, 
where  lay  the  cushions  which  did  double  duty  as  chairs 
and  beds.  In  trying  to  form  an  opinion  of  the  climate,  it  must 
be  recollected  that  much  of  the  fever,  from  which  we  suffered, 
was  caused  by  sleeping  on  these  wet  cushions.  Many  of  the 
botanical  specimens,  laboriously  collected  and  carefully  pre- 
pared by  Dr.  Kirk,  were  destroyed,  or  double  work  imposed, 
by  their  accidentally  falling  into  wet  places  in  the  cabin. 

When  lying  off  an  island  a  few  miles  below  Mazaro,  the 
owner  of  it,  Paul,  a  relative  of  the  rebel  Mariano,  paid  us  a 
visit.  He  had  just  returned  from  Mosambique,  having, 
to  use  the  common  phrase  of  the  country,  "arranged"  with 
the  authorities.  He  told  us  that  Governor-General  d' Almeida 
knew  nothing  of  the  Kongone,  and  thought,  with  others,  that 
the  Zambesi  entered  the  sea  at  Quillimane.  His  Excellency 
had  been  making  inquiries  of  him,  respecting  the  correctness 


66  DESCENDANTS  OP  THE  PORTUGUESE.      Chap,  IIL 

of  Dr.  Livingstone's  map  in  this  particular.  This  is  men- 
tioned because  lately  the  Portuguese  have  seriously  attempted 
to  show  that  the  Kongone  was  previously  well  known  to  their 
slavers.  Paul  is  of  mixed  breeds  but  seems  to  thrive;,  being 
the  only  really  fat  man  of  the  descendants  of  the  Portuguese 
in  East  Africa.  It  is  a  pity  that  a  certain  class  of  diseases, 
self-induced  and  inherited,  have  become  so  universal  among 
half-castes,  that  no  conclusion  can  liere  be  drawn  as  to  their 
permanence  as  a  raca 


Chap.  IV.  RETURN  TO  THE  SHIRE.  87 


CHAPTER    IV. 

Up  the  Shire  again,  August,  1859  —  Mount  Morambala  —  Hot  fountain  — 
Chase  by  a  bnfialo —  Nyaiga  Pangono,  or  Little  Lake  —  Xyanja  Mukulu,  or 
Great  Lake — Ancient  Portuguese  geographical  knowledge  unavailable  — 
Ghikanda-kadze — Accident  from  unsuitability  of  steamer — Hippopotamus 
traps — Mosquitoes — Elephants  —  View  of  the  Shire  marshes  —  Birds  — 
Palm  wine,  or  Sura — Salt-making  —  Brackish  soil  and  superior  cotton  — 
Dakanamoio  Island  —  A  loving  hombiU  —  Chibisa  —  Child  sold  into 
slavery. 

About  the  middle  of  August,  after  cutting  wood  at  Sha- 
moara,  we  again  steamed  up  the  Shire,  with  the  inten- 
tion  of  becoming  better  acquainted  with  the  people,  and 
makmg  another  and  longer  journey  on  foot  to  the  north 
of  Lake  Shirwa,  in  search  of  Lake  Nyassa,  of  which 
we  had  already  received  some  information,  imder  the 
name  Nyinyesi  (the  stars).  The  Shire  is  much  nar- 
rower than  the  Zambesi,  but  deeper,  and  more  easily 
navigated.  It  drains  a  low,  and  exceedingly  fertile  valley 
of  from  fifteen  to  twenty  miles  in  breadth.  Banges  of 
wooded  Mils  bound  this  valley  on  both  sides.  For  the  first 
twetity  miles  the  hills  on  the  left  bank  are  <^bse  to  die 
river ;  then  comes  Morambala,  whose  name  means  '^  the  lofty 
watdi-tower/*  a  detached  mountain  500  yards  from  the  river's 
brink,  which  rises,  with  steep  sides  on  the  west,  to  4000  feet  in 
height^  and  is  about  seven  miles  in  length.  It  is  wooded 
up  to  the  very  top,  and  very  beautiftiL  The  southern  end, 
seal  from  a  distance,  has  a  fine  gradual  slope,  and  looks 
as  if  it  might  be  of  easy  ascent ;  but  the  side  which  faces 
the  Shire  is  steep  jind  rocky,  especially  in  the  upper  half. 


88  HOT  FOUNTAIN.  Chap.  IV. 

A  small  village  peeps  out  about  halfway  up  the  mountain ; 
it  has  a  pure  and  bracing  atmosphere;  and  is  perched  above 
mosquito  range.    The  people  on  the  summit  have  a  very 
diflFerent  climate  and  vegetation,  from  those  of  the  plains ; 
but  they  have  to  spend  a  great  portion  of  their  existence 
amidst   white  fleecy  clouds,    which,    in  the   rainy   season, 
rest  daily  on  the  top  of  their  favourite  mountain.     We  were 
kindly  treated  by  these  mountaineers  on  our  first  ascent; 
before  our  second   they  were    nearly   all  swept  away  by 
Mariano.     Dr.  Kirk  found  upwards  of  thirty  species  of  ferns 
on  this  and  other  mountains,  and  even  good-sized  tree-ferns ; 
though  scarcely  a  single  kind  is  to  be  met  with  on  the  plains. 
Lemon  and  orange  trees  grew  wild,  and  pineapples  had  been 
planted  by  the  people.   Many  large  hombills,  hawks,  monkeys, 
antelopes,  and  rhinoceroses  found  a  home  and  food  among  the 
great  trees  round  its  base,     A  hot  fountain  boils  up  on  the 
plain  near  the  north  end.    It  bubbles  out  of  the  earth,  clear 
as  crystal,  at  two  points,  or  eyes,  a  few  yards  apart  from  each 
other,  and  sends  off  a  fine  flowing  stream  of  hot  water.    The 
temperature  was  found  to  be  174°  Fahr.,  and  it  boiled  an  egg 
in  about  the  usual  time.     Our  guide  threw  in  a  smaU  branch 
to  show  us  how  speedily  the  Madse-awira  (boiling  water)  could 
kill  the  leaves.     Unlucky  lizards  and  insects  did  not  seem  to 
understand  the  nature  of  a  hot-spring,  as  many  of  their 
remains  were   lying  at  the  bottom.     A  large   beetle  had 
alighted  on  the  water,  and  been  killed  before  it  had  time  to 
fold  its  wings.      An  incrustation,  smelling  of  sulphur,  has 
been  deposited  by  the  water  on  the  stones.    About  a  hundred 
feet  from  the  eye  of  the  fountain  the  mud  is  as  hot  as  can  be 
borne  by  the  body.    In  taking  a  bath  there,  it  makes  the 
skin  perfectly  clean,  and  none  of  the  mud  adheres:  it  is 
strange  that  the  Portuguese  do  not  resort  to  it  for  the 


Chap.  IV.  MOUNT  MAKA^'GA.  &9 

numerous -cutaneous  diseases,  with  which  they  are  so  often 
afflicted. 

A  few  clumps  of  the  palm  and  accu^ia  trees  appear  west 
of  Morambala,  on  the  rich  plain  forming  the  tongue  of  land 
between  the  rivers  Shire  and  Zambesi.  This  is  a  good  place 
for  aU  sorts  of  game.  The  Zambesi  canoe-men  were  afraid 
to  sleep  on  it  from  the  idea  of  lions  being  there ;  they  pre- 
ferred to 'pass  the  m'ght  on  an  island.  Some  black  men, 
who  accompanied  us  as  volunteer  workmen  from  Shupanga, 
called  out  one  evening  that  a  lion  stood  on  the  bank.  It 
was  very  dark,  and  we  could  only  see  two  sparkling  lights, 
said  to  be  the  lion's  eyes  looking  at  us ;  for  here,  as 
elsewhere,  they  have  a  theory  that  the  lion's  eyes  always 
flash  fire  at  night  Not  being  fireflies — as  they  did  not  move 
when  a  shot  was  fired  in  their  direction — they  were  probably 
glowworms. 

Beyond  Morambala  the  Shire  comes  winding  through  an 
extensive  marsh.  For  many  miles  to  the  north  a  broad 
sea  of  fresh  green  grass  extends,  and  is  so  level,  that  it  might 
be  used  for  taking  the  meridian  altitude  of  the  sun.  Ten 
or  fifteen  miles  north  of  Morambala,  stands  the  dome-shaped 
mountain  Makanga,  or  Ghi-kanda;  several  others  with 
granitic-looking  peats  stretch  away  to  the  north,  and  form 
the  eastern  boundary  of  the  valley ;  another  range,  but  of 
metamorphic  rocks,  commencing  opposite  Senna,  bounds  the 
valley  on  the  west.  After  steaming  through  a  portion  of 
this  marsh,  we  came  to  a  broad  belt  of  palm,  and  other 
trees,  crossing  the  fine  plain  on  the  right  bank.  Marks  of 
lai^  game  were  abundant.  Elephants  had  been  feeding 
on  the  palm  nuts,  which  have  a  pleasant  fruity  taste,  and 
are  used  as  food  by  man.  Two  pythons  were  observed  coiled 
together  among  the  branches  of  a  large  tree,  and  were  both 


90  CHASE  BY  A  BUFFALO.  Chap.  IV. 

shot.  The  larger  of  the  two,  a  female,  was  ten  feet  long.  They 
are  harmless,  and  said  to  bo  good  eating.  The  Makololo 
having  set  fire  to  the  grass  where  they  were  cutting  wood,  a 
solitary  buffalo  rushed  out  of  the  conflagration,  and  made  a 
fiirious  charge  at  an  active  young  fellow  named  Mantlanyane. 
Never  did  his  fleet  limbs  serve  him  better  than  during  the  few 
seconds  of  lus  fearful  flight  before  the  maddened  animal. 
When  he  reached  the  bank,  and  sprang  into  the  river,  the 
infuriated  beast  was  scarcely  six  feet  behind  him.  Towards 
evening,  after  the  day's  labour  in  wood-cutting  was  over, 
some  of  the  men  went  fishing.  They  followed  the  com- 
mon African  custom  of  agitating  the  water,  by  giving  it 
a  few  sharp  strokes  with  the  top  of  the  fishing-rod,  imme- 
diately after  throwing  in  the  line,  to  attract  the  attention 
of  the  fish  to  the  bait  Saving  caught  nothing,  the 
reason  assigned  was  the  same  as  would  have  been  given  in 
England  under  like  circumstances,  namely,  that  ^^  the  wind 
made  the  fish  cold,  and  they  would  not  bite.''  Many  gardens 
of  maize,  pumpkins,  and  tobacco,  fringed  the  marshy  banks 
as  we  went  on.  They  belong  to  natives  of  the  hills,  who  come 
down  in  the  dry  season,  and  raise  a  crop  on  parts  at  other 
times  flooded.  While  the  crops  are  growing,  large  quantities 
of  fish  are  caught,  chiefly  Clarias  capemis,  and  Mugil  Afrir 
carms;  they  are  dried  for  sale  or  for  future  consumption. 

As  we  ascended,  we  passed  a  deep  stream  about  thirty  yards 
wide,  flowing  in  from  a  body  of  open  water  several  miles 
brofuL  Numbers  of  men  were  busy  at  different  parts  of  it, 
filling  their  canoes  with  the  lotus  root,  called  Nyika,  which, 
when  boiled  or  roasted,  resembles  our  chestnuts,  and  is 
extensively  used  in  Africa  as  food.  Out  of  this  lagoon,  and  by 
this  stream,  the  chief  part  of  the  duckweed  of  the  Shire  flows. 
The  lagoon  itself  is  called  Nyanja  ea  Motope  (Lake  of  Mud). 


Chap.  IV.     ABSURD  ASSERTIONS  OF  THE  PORTUGUESE,     91 

It  is  also  named  Njanja  Pangono  (Little  Lake),  while  the 
elephant  marsh  goes  by  the  name  of  Nyanja  Ituknlu  (Great 
Lake).    It  is  evident  firom  the  shore  line  stUl  to  be  obeerved 
on  the  adjacent  hills,  that  in  ancient  times  these  were  really 
lakes,  and  the  traditional  names  thos  preserved  are  only 
another  evidence  of  the  general  desiccation  which  Africa  has 
nndergone.    No  one  would  believe  that  beyond  these  little 
and  great  Nyanjas  Portuguese  geographical  knowledge  never 
extended.    But  the  Viscount  Sa  da  Bandeira,  in*  an  official 
letter  to  the  Governor-General  of  Mosambique,  in  his  patriotic 
anxiety  to  prove  that  we   did  not  discover  Lake  Nyaum^ 
actually  quotes  as  the  only  information  the  ancient  archives 
of  Lisbon  can  disclose,  that  the  people  of  Senna  held  com- 
mercial intercourse  with  the  people  on  Morambala,  and  of 
•course,  as  he  avers,  must  have  sailed  into  the  littie  and  great 
marshes  or  Nyanjas  referred  to  above.    As  if  either  of  these 
were  Lake  Nyassa !    The  Shire  cataracts  are  quite  ignored. 
The  great  Victoria  Falls  of  Mosi-oa-timya,  we  are  aware,  were 
quite  unknown  to  the  Portuguese ;  but,  until  we  read  his 
Excellency's  quotations  from  hearsay  reports  of  some  ancient 
author,  we  believed  that  the  five  great  Murchison  Cataracts, 
which  form  a  descent  of  1200  feet,  only  a  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  from  Senna,  must  have  been  known  to  the  old  Portuguese, 
and   we  still    incline  to  the  belief  that  they  must    have 
been  explored ;  but,  since  the  discovery  was  hidden  from  the 
rest  of  the  world,  it  takes  rank  with  the  explorations  of  illiterate 
Africans.    It  is  a  pity,  but  the  fact  is,  that  the  good  Viscount 
now  feels  the  inconvenience  which  follows  the  short-sighted 
policy  of  his  ancestors  in  geographical  matters,  as  much  as  his 
descendants  will  feel  and  lament  the  present  "dog  in  the 
manger  '*  commercial  policy  of  his  contemporaries.     One  of 
the  Jesuits  formerly  made  a  business-like  proposal  to  explore 


92  CH1KAOT)A-KADZE'S  VILLAGE.  Chap.  IY. 

Lake  Maravi,  but  nowhere  is  it  stated  that  it  ever  was  carried 
into  effect.  This,  we  regret  to  say,  is  all  the  information  we 
have  been  able  to  gain  on  this  subject  from  the  Portuguese. 
If  we  had  been  able  to  discover  more  particulars  of  their  ex- 
plorations, we  certainly  are  not  conscious  of  a  desire  to  dwarf 
them. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  of  the  first  day's  steaming, 
after  we  left  the  wooding-place,  we  called  at  the  vil- 
lage of  Chikanda-Kadze,  a  female  Chief,  to  purchase  rice 
for  our  men ;  but  we  were  now  in  the  bUssful  region  where 
time  is  absolutely  of  no  account,  and  where  men  may  sit 
down  and  rest  themselves  when  tired;  so  they  requested 
us  to  wait  till  next  day,  and  they  would  then  sell  us  some 
food.  As  our  forty  black  men,  however,  had  nothing  to  cook 
for  supper,  we  were  obliged  to  steam  on  to  reach  a  village  a 
few  miles  above.  When  we  meet  those  who  care  not  whether 
we  purchase  or  let  it  alone,  or  who  think  men  ought  only  to  be 
in  a  hurry  when  fleeing  from  an  enemy,  our  ideas  about  time 
being  money,  and  the  power  of  the  purse,  receive  a  shock. 
The  state  of  eager  competition,  which  in  England  wears  out 
both  mind  and  body,  and  makes  life  bitter,  is  here  happily 
unknown.  The  cultivated  spots  are  mere  dots  compared  to 
the  broad  fields  of  rich  soil,  which  is  never  either  grazed  or 
tilled.  Pity  that  the  plenty  in  store  for  all,  from  our  Father's 
bountiful  hands,  is  not  enjoyed  by  more. 

The  wretched  little  steamer  could  not  carry  all  the  hands 
we  needed ;  so,  to  lighten  her,  we  put  some  into  the  boats 
and  towed  them  astern.  In  the  dark,  one  of  the  boats  was 
capsized;  but  all  in  it,  except  one  poor  fellow  who  could  not 
swim,  were  picked  up.  His  loss  threw  a  gloom  over  us  all, 
and  added  to  the  chagrin  we  often  felt  at  having  been  so  ill- 
served  in  our  sorry  craft  by  one  of  our  own  countrymen.     Few 


Chap.  IT.  NATIVE  MINSTREL'S  VISIT.  03 

would  haTe  acted  thus  towards  us:  we  had  received  the  aseur- 
auce  tliat  the  steamer  would  carry  from  ten  to  twelve  ttma, 
and  about  tbirty-aix  men ;  but  we  foimd  that  this  made  her 
draw  so  much  as  to  be  near  sinking,  and  we  adopted  the  expe- 
dient mentioned,  with  the  unfortunate  result  described. 

Next  day  we  arrired  at  the  village  of  Mboma  (IG^  56'  30"  S.), 
where  the  people  raised  lai^  quantities  of  rice,  and  were  eager 
traders ;  the  rice  was  sold  at  wonderfully  low  rates,  and  we 
could  not  purchase  a  tithe  of  the  food  brought  for  sale. 


Aftkoo  Fiddle  otcDe  String. 

A  native  minstrel  serenaded  us  in  the  evening,  playing 
several  quaint  tunes  on  a  species  of  one-stringed  fiddle, 
accompanied  by  wild,  but  not  unmusical  songs.  He  told  the 
Hakololo  that  he  intended  to  play  all  night  to  induce  ua 
to  give  him  a  present  The  nights  being  cold,  the  thenno- 
meter  falling  to  47°,  with  occasional  fogs,  he  was  asked  if  he 
was  not  a&aid  of  perishing  from  cold ;  but,  with  the  genuine 
spirit  of  an  Italian  organ-grinder,  he  replied,  "  Oh,  no ;  I  shall 
spend  the  night  with  my  white  comrades  in  the  big  canoe ; 
I  have  often  heard  of  the  white  men,  but  have  never  seen  them 
till  now,  and  I  miist  sing  and  play  well  to  them."  A  small 
piece  of  cloth,  however,  bought  him  off,  and  he  moved  away 


94  TRAPPING  HIPPOPOTAMI.  Chap.  IV. 

in  good  humour.  The  water  of  the  river  was  70°  at  sunrise, 
which  was  23°  warmer  than  the  air  at  the  same  time,  and 
this  caused  fogs,  which  rose  like  steam  off  the  river.  When 
this  is  the  case  cold  bathing  in  the  mornings  at  this  time  of 
the  year  is  improper,  for,  instead  of  a  glow  on  coming  out>  one 
is  apt  to  get  a  chill ;  the  air  being  so  much  colder  than  the 
water. 

A  range  of  hills,  commencing  opposite  Senna,  comes  to 
within  two  or  three  miles  of  Mboma  village,  and  then  runs 
in  a  north-westerly  direction ;  the  principal  hill  is  named 
Malawe;  a  number  of  villages  stand  on  its  tree-covered 
sides,  and  coal  is  found  cropping  out  in  the  rocks.  The 
country  improves  as  we  ascend,  the  rich  valley  becoming 
less  swampy,  and  adorned  with  a  number  of  trees. 

Both  banks  are  dotted  with  hippopotamus  traps,  over  every 
track  which  these  animals  have  made  in  going  up  out  of  the 
water  to  graze.  The  hippopotamus  feeds  on  grass  alone,  and, 
where  there  is  any  danger,  only  at  night.  Its  enormous  Ups 
act  like  a  mowing-machine,  and  form  a  path  of  shortcropped 
grass  as  it  feeds.  We  never  saw  it  eat  aquatic  plants  or 
reeds.  The  tusks  seem  weapons  of  both  ofience  and  defence. 
The  hippopotamus  trap  consists  of  a  beam  five  or  six  feet 
long,  armed  with  a  spear-head  or  hard-wood  spike,  covered 
with  poison,  and  suspended  to  a  forked  pole  by  a  cord, 
which,  coming  down  to  the  path,  is  held  by  a  catch,  to  be 
set  free  when  the  beast  treads  on  it  Being  wary  brutes, 
they  are  still  very  numerous.  One  got  frightened  by  the 
ship,  as  she  was  steaming  close  to  the  bank.  In  its  eager 
hurry  to  escape.it  rushed  on  shore,  and  ran  directly  under 
a  trap,  when  down  came  the  heavy  beam  on  its  back,  driv- 
ing the  poisoned  spear-head  a  foot  deep  into  its  flesh.  In 
its  agony  it  plunged  back  into  the  river,  to  die  in  a  few 


Chap.  IV.         LEAKY  STATE  OF  THE  STEAMER.  95 

hoars,  and  afterwards  famished  a  feast  for  the  natires.  The 
poison  on  the  spear-head  does  not  affect  the  meat,  except 
the  part  aroond  the  wooDd,  and  that  is  thrown  away.  In 
some  places  the  descending  beam  is  weighted  with  heavy 
stones,  bat  here  the  hard  heavy  wood  is  sufBcient. 


VlBimt  BttvoKi,  lYaiifc  md  dad  Blpixvotaiiii. 

Abont  dusk  we  were  hailed  from  the  bank  by  an  authorita- 
tive  voice.  "  Where  are  you  going  to  ?  Where  are  you  going 
to?  What  is  all  this  joumejni^  about?"  "You  may  sleep 
there,  so  do  not  trouble  yourself,"  was  the  answer  returned 
by  the  Makololo. 

"  She  is  leaking  worse  than  ever  forward,  sir,  and  there  is 
a  foot  of  water  in  the  hold,"  was  oar  first  salutation  on  the 
morning  of  the  20th.  Eut  we  have  become  accustomed 
to  these  things  now,  and  are  not  surprised  to  hear  of  a  new 
"  cataclysm  "  at  any  time.  The  cabin-floor  is  always  wet,  and 
one  is  obliged  to  mop  up  the  water  many  times  a  day,  giving 


96  ANNOYANCE  FROM  MOSQUITOES.         Chap.  IV . 

some  countenance  to  the  native  idea  that  Englishmen,  live  in 
or  on  the  water,  and  have  no  houses  but  ships.  The  cabin 
is  now  a  favourite  breeding-place  for  mosquitoes,  and  we  have 
to  support  both  tlie  ship-bred  and  shore-bred  bloodsuckers, 
of  which  several  species  show  us  their  irritating  attentions. 
A  large  brown  sort,  called  by  the  Portuguese  mansos  (tame), 
flies  straight  to  its  victim,  and  goes  to  work  at  once,  as  though 
it  were,  an  invited  guest.  Some  of  the  small  kinds  carry 
uncommonly  sharp  lancets,  and  very  potent  poison.  "  What 
would  these  insects  eat,  if  we  did  not  p«iss  this  way?*' 
becomes  a  natural  question. 

The  juices  of  plants,  and  decaying  vegetable  matter  in  the 
mud,  probably  form  the  natural  food  of  mosquitoes,  and  blood 
is  not  necessary  for  their  existence.  They  appear  so  com- 
monly at  malarious  spots,  that  their  presence  may  be  taken 
as  a  hint  to  man  to  be  off  to  more  healthy  localities.  None 
appear  on  the  high  lands.  On  the  low  lands  they  swarm  in 
myriads.  The  females  alone  are  furnished  with  the  biting  ap- 
paratus, and  their  nimiber  appears  to  be  out  of  all  proportion 
in  excess  of  the  males.  At  anchor,  on  a  still  evenings  they 
were  excessively  annoying;  and  the  sooner  we  took  refuge 
imder  our  mosquito  curtains,  the  better.  The  miserable  and 
sleepless  m'ght  that  only  one  mosquito  inside  the  curtain  can 
cause,  is  so  well  known,  and  has  been  so  often  described,  that 
it  is  needless  to  describe  it  here.  One  soon  learns,  from 
experience,  that  to  beat  out  the  curtains  thoroughly  before 
entering  them,  so  that  not  one  of  these  pests  can  possibly 
be  harboured  within,  is  the  only  safeguard  against  such 
severe  trials  to  one's  tranquillity  and  temper. 

A  few  miles  above  Mboma  we  came  again  to  the  village 
(16°  44'  30"  S.),  of  the  Chief,  Tingane,  the  beat  of  whose 
war-dnims  can  speedily  muster  some  hundreds  of  armed  men. 


Chap.  IV.  THE  ELEPHANT  MARSH.  97 

The  bows  and  poisoned  arrows  here  are  of  superior  work- 
manship to  those  below.  Mariano's  slave-hanting  parties 
stood  in  great  awe  of  these  barbed  arro¥rSy  and  long  kept 
aloof  from  Tingane's  villages.  His  people  were  friendly 
enongh  with  ns  now,  and  covered  the  banks  with  a  variety 
of  articles  for  sale.  The  majestic  mountain^  Pirone,  to 
which  we  have  given  the  name  of  Mount  Clarendon,  now 
looms  in  sight,  and  farther  to  the  N.W.  the  southern  end 
of  the  grand  Milanje  range  rises  in  the  form  of  an  un- 
finished sphinx,  looking  down  on  Lake  Shirwa.  The  Buo 
(16^  31'  0"  S.)  is  said  to  have  its  source  in  the  Milanje 
mountains,  and  flows  to  the  S.W.,  to  join  the  Shire  some 
distance  above  Tingane's.  A  short  way  beyond  the  Buo 
lies  the  elephant  marsh,  or  Nyanja  Mukulu,  which  is  fre- 
quented by  vast  herds  of  these  animals.  We  believe  that 
we  counted  eight  hundred  elephants  in  sight  at  once.  In 
the  choice  of  such  a  stronghold,  they  have  shown  their 
usual  sagacity,  for  no  hunter  can  get  near  them  through 
the  swamps.  They  now  keep  far  from  the  steamer;  but, 
when  she  first  came  up,  we  steamed  into  the  midst  of  a 
herd,  and  some  were  shot  from  the  ship's  deck.  A  single 
lesson  was  sufficient  to  teach  them  that  the  puffing  monster 
was  a  thing  to  be  avoided;  and  at  the  first  glimpse  they 
are  now  off  two  or  three  miles  to  the  midst  of  the  marsh, 
which  is  furrowed  in  every  direction  by  wandering  branches 
of  the  Shire.  A  fine  young  elephant  was  here  caught  alive, 
as  he  was  climbing  up  the  bank  to  follow  his  retreating 
dam.  When  laid  hold  of,  he  screamed  with  so  much  energy 
that,  to  escape  a  visit  from  the  enr^ed  mother,  we  steamed 
off,  and  dragged  him  through  the  water  by  the  proboscis.  As 
the  men  were  holding  his  trunk  over  the  gunwale,  Monga, 
a  brave  Makololo  elephant-hunter,  rushed  aft,  and  drew  his 

H 


98  YOUNG  ELEPHANT  CAPTURED.  Chap.  IV. 

knife  across  it  in  a  sort  of  frenzy  peculiar  to  the  chase.  The 
wound  was  skilfully  sewn  up,  and  the  young  animal  soon 
became  quite  tame,  but,  unfortunately,  the  breathing  pre- 
vented the  cut  from  healing,  and  he  died  in  a  few  days  from 
loss  of  blood.  Had  he  lived,  and  had  we  been  able  to  bring 
him  home,  he  would  have  been  the  first  African  elephant 
ever  seen  in  England.  The  African  male  elephant  is  from 
ten,  to  a  little  over  eleven  feet  in  height,  and  differs  from  the 
Asiatic  species,  more  particularly  in  the  convex  shape  of  his 
forehead,  and  the  enormous  size  of  his  ears.  In  Asia  many 
of  the  males,  and  all  the  females,  are  without  tusks,  but  ia 
Africa  both  sexes  are  provided  with  these  weapons.  The 
enamel  in  the  molar  teeth  is  arranged  differently  in  the  two 
species.  By  an  admirable  provision,  new  teeth  constantly 
come  up  at  the  part,  where  in  man  the  wisdom  teeth  ap- 
pear, and  these  push  the  others  along,  and  out  at  the  front 
end  of  the  jaws,  thus  keeping  the  molars  sound  by  renewal, 
till  the  animal  attains  a  very  great  age.  The  tusks  of 
animals  from  dry  rocky  countries  are  very  much  more  dense 
and  heavier  than  those  from  wet  and  marehy  districts,  but 
the  latter  attain  much  the  larger  size. 

The  Shire  marshes  support  prodigious  numbers  of  many 
kinds  of  water-fowl.  An  hour  at  the  mast-head  unfolds 
novel  views  of  life  in  an  African  marsh.  Near  the  edge, 
and  on  the  branches  of  some  favourite  tree,  rest  scores 
of  plotuses  and  cormorants,  which  stretch  their  snake-like 
necks,  and  in  mute  amazement  turn  one  eye  and  then 
another  towards  the  approaching  monster.  By-and-bye  the 
timid  ones  begin  to  fly  off,  or  take  "headers"  into  the 
stream ;  but  a  few  of  the  bolder,  or  more  composed,  remain, 
only  taking  the  precaution  to  spread  their  wings  ready  for  in- 
stant flight  The  pretty  ardetta  {Serodias  bvhulcm\  of  a  light 


€hap.  IV.      PRODIGIOUS  NUMBER  OP  WATER-FOWL.  99 

yellow  coloTir  when  at  rest,  but  seemingly  of  a  pure  white 
when  flying,  takes  wing,  and  sweeps  across  the  green  grass 
in  large  numbers,  often  showing  us  where  buffaloes  and 
elephants  are,  by  perching  on  their  backs.  Flocks  of  ducks, 
of  which  the  kind  called  "  Soriri "  {Dendrocygna  perscriata) 
is  most  abundant,  being  night  feeders  meditate  quietly 
by  the  small  lagoons,  until  startled  by  the  noise  of  the 
steam  machinery.  Pelicans  glide  over  the  water,  catching 
fish,  while  the  Scopus  (Scopus  umbretta)  and  large  herons 
peer  intently  into  pools.  The  large  black  and  white  spur- 
winged  goose  (a  constant  marauder  of  native  gardens) 
springs  up,  and  circles  round  to  find  out  what  the  disturbance 
can  be,  and  then  settles  down  again  with  a  splash.  Hundreds 
of  Linongolos  (Anastomtis  lamdHgerus)  rise  on  the  wing 
from  the  clumps  of  reeds,  or  low  trees  (the  JEschmoTnenc^ 
from  which  pith  hats  are  made),  on  which  they  bmld  in 
colonies,  and  are  speedily  high  in  mid-air.  Charming  little 
red  and  yellow  weavers  {PloceidoB)  remind  one  of  butterflies, 
as  they  fly  in  and  out  of  the  tall  grass,  or  hang  to  the 
mouths  of  their  pendent  nests,  chattering  briskly  to  tlieir 
mates  within.  These  weavers  seem  to  have  "cock  nests," 
built  with  only  a  roof,  and  a  perch  beneath,  with  a  doorway 
on  each  side.  The  natives  say  they  are  made  to  protect  the 
bird  from  the  rain.  Though  her  husband  is  very  attentive, 
we  have  seen  the  hen  bird  tearing  her  mate's  nest  to  pieces, 
but  why  we  cannot  tell.  Kites  and  vultures  are  busy  over- 
haul, beating  the  ground  for  their  repast  of  carrion ;  and 
the  solemn-looking;  stately-stepping  Marabout,  with  a  taste 
for  dead  fish,  or  men,  stalks  slowly  along  the  almost 
stagnant  channels.  Groups  of  men  and  boys  are  searching 
diligently  in  various  places  for  lotus  and  other  roots.  Some 
are  standing  in  canoes,  on  the  weed-covered  ponds,  spearing 

H  2 


PALM-ITIEE  FOREST. 


fish,  while  others  are  punting  over  the   Bmall  intersecting 
BtreamB,  to  examine  their  eanken  fish-baskets. 


Ildfbuket. 

Towards  evening,  hundreds  of  pretty  little  hawks  {Ery- 
thropua  vespertmva)  are  seen  flying  in  a  southerly  direction, 
and  feeding  on  dragon-flies  and  locusts.  They  come,  ap- 
parently, from  resting  on  the  palm-trees  during  the  heat 
of  the  day.  Flocks  of  scissor-bills  (Bhptcopa)  are  then 
also  on  the  wing,  and  in  search  of  food,  ploughing  the 
water  with  their  lower  mandibles,  which  are  nearly  half 
an  inch  longer  than  the  upper  ones. 

At  the  north-eastern  end  of  the  marah,  and  about  three 
miles  from  the  river,  commences  a  great  forest  of  palm-trees 
{Bortums  ^thiopmm).  It  extends  many  miles,  and  at  one 
point  comes  close  to  the  river.  The  grey  trunks  and  green  tops 
of  this  immense  mass  of  trees  give  a  pleasing  tone  of  colonr 
to  the  view.  The  mountain-range,  which  rises  close  behind 
the  palms,  is  generally  of  a  cheerful  green,  and  has  many  trees, 
with  patches  of  a  lighter  tint  among  them,  as  if  spots  of  land 
had  once  been  cultivated.  The  sharp  angular  rocks  and  dells 
on  its  sides  have  the  appearance  of  a  huge  crystal  broken ; 
and  this  is  so  often  the  case  in  Airica,  that  one  can  guess 
pretty  nearly  at  sight,  whether  a  range  is  of  the  old  crystfil- 
line  rocks  or  not  The  Borassus,  though  not  an  oil-bearing 
palm,  is  a  useful  tree.  The  fibrous  pulp,  round  the  large 
nuts,  is  of  a  sweet  fruity  taste,  and  is  eaten  by  men  and 
elephants.     The  natives  bury  the  nuts  until  the  kernels  begin 


Chap.  IV.  PALM-WINE  —  SALT,  101 

to  sprout;  when  dug  up  and  broken,  the  inside  resembles 
coarse  potatoes,  and  is  prized  in  times  of  scarcity  as  nutritious 
food.  During  several  months  of  the  year,  palm-wine,  or  gura, 
is  obtained  in  large  quantities;  when  fresh,  it  is  a  pleasant 
drink,  somewhat  like  champagne,  and  not  at  all  intoxi- 
cating ;  though,  after  standing  a  few  hours,  it  becomes  highly 
80.  Sticks,  a  foot  long,  are  driyen  into  notches  in  the  hard 
outside  of  the  tree, — ^the  inside  being  soft  or  hollow, — to  serve 
as  a  ladder ;  the  top  of  the  fruit^oot  is  cut  off,  and  the  sap, 
pouring  out  at  the  fresh  wound,  is  caught  in  an  earthen  pot, 
which  is  hung  at  the  point.  A  thin  slice  is  taken  off  the  end, 
to  open  the  pores,  and  make  the  juice  flow  every  time  the 
owner  ascends  to  empty  the  pot  Temporary  huts  are  erected 
in  the  forest,  and  men  and  boys  remain  by  their  respective 
trees  day  and  night ;  the  nuts,  fish,  and  wine,  being  their  sole 
food.  The  Portuguese  use  the  palm-wine  as  yeast,  and  it 
makes  bread  so  light,  that  it  melts  in  the  mouth  like  froth. 

Beyond  the  marsh  the  country  is  higher,  and  has  a  much 
larger  population.  We  passed  a  long  line  of  temporary  huts, 
on  a  plain  on  the  right  bank,  with  crowds  of  men  and  women 
hard  at  work  making  salt  They  obtain  it  by  mixing  the 
earth,  which  is  here  highly  saline,  with  water,  in  a  pot  with  a 
small  hole  in  it,  and  then  evaporating  the  liquid,  which  runs 
through,  in  the  sun.  From  the  number  of  women  we  saw 
carrying  it  off  in  bags,  we  concluded  that  vast  quantities 
must  be  made  at  these  works.  It  is  worth  observing  that 
on  soils  like  this,  containing  salt  the  cotton  is  of  larger 
and  finer  staple  than  elsewhere.  We  saw  large  tracts  of 
this  rich  brackish  soil  both  in  the  Shire  and  Zambesi 
valleys,  and  hence,  probably,  sea-island  cotton  would  do  well ; 
a  single  plant  of  it,  reared  by  Major  Sicard,  flourished  and 
produced  the  long  staple  and  peculiar  tinge  of  this  celebrated 


102  DAKANAMOIO  ISLAND.  Chap.  IV^ 

variety,  though  pletnted  only  in  the  street  at  Tette;  and  there 
also  a  salt  efflorescence  appears,  probably  from  decomposition 
of  the  rock,  off  which  the  people  scrape  it  for  use. 

Above  the  palm-trees,  a  succession  of  rich  low  islands 
stud  the  river.  Many  of  them  are  cultivated  and  grow 
maize  at  all  times  of  the  year,  for  we  saw  it  in  different 
stages  of  growth ;  some  patches  ripe,  and  others  half-grown, 
or  just  sprouting  out  of  the  ground.  The  shores  are  adorned 
with  rows  of  banana-trees,  and  the  fruit  is  abundant  and 
cheap.  Many  of  the  reedy  banks  are  so  intertwined  with 
convolvulus,  and  other  creepers,  as  to  be  absolutely  impene- 
trable. They  are  beautiful  to  the  eye,  a  smooth  wall  of 
living  green  rising  out  of  the  crystal  water,  and  adorned 
with  lovely  flowers;  but  so  dense,  that,  if  capsized  in  the 
water,  one  could  scarcely  pass  through  to  land. 

The  large  village  of  the  Chief,  Mankokwe,  occupies  a  site 
on  the  right  bank ;  he  owns  a  number  of  fertile  islands,  and 
is  said  to  be  the  Bundo,  or  paramount  Chie^  of  a  large 
district.  Being  of  an  unhappy  suspicious  disposition,  he 
would  not  see  us ;  so  we  thought  it  best  to  move  on,  rather 
than  spend  time  in  seeking  his  favour. 

On  the  25th  August  we  reached  Dakanamoio  Island,, 
opposite  the  perpendicular  bluff  on  which  Chibisa's  village 
stands ;  he  had  gone,  with  most  of  his  people,  to  live  near 
the  Zambesi,  but  his  headman  was  civil,  and  promised  us 
guides  and  whatever  else  we  needed.  A  few  of  the  men 
were  busy  cleaning,  sorting,  spinning,  and  weaving  cotton. 
This  is  a  common  sight  in  nearly  every  village,  and  each 
&mily  appears  to  have  its  patch  of  cotton,  as  our  own 
ancestors  in  Scotland  had  each  his  patch  of  flax.  Near  sunset 
an  immense  flock  of  the  largest  species  of  hombill  {Bucer<» 
eristatm)   came  here  to   roost  on  the  great  trees  which 


Chap.  IV.  CHIBISA'S  LOST  CHILD.  103 

skirt  the  edge  of  the  diff.    They  leave  early  in  the  morning, 
often  before  snnrise,  for  their  feeding-places,  coming  and 
going  in  pairs.    They  are  evidently  of  a  loving  disposition, 
and  strongly  attached  to  each  other,  the  male  always  nest- 
ling dose  beside  his  mate.    A  fine  male  fell  to  the  ground, 
from  fear,  at  the  report  of  Dr.  Kirk's  gun ;  it  was  caught  and 
kept  on  board;  the  female  did  not  go  off  in  the  mornings 
to  feed  with  the  others,  but  flew  round  the  ship,  anxiously 
trying,  by  her  plaintive  calls,  to  induce  her  beloved  one  to 
follow  her :  she  came  again  in  the  evenings  to  repeat  the  in- 
vitations.   The  poor  disconsolate  captive  soon  refused  to  eat, 
and  in  five  days  died  of  grief,  because  he  could  not  have  her 
company.    No  internal  injury  could  be  detected  after  death. 
Chibisa  and  his  wife,  with  a  natural  show  of  parental  feel- 
ing, had  told  the  Doctor,  on  his  previous  visit,  that  a  few 
years  before  some  of  Chisaka's  men  had  kidnapped  and  sold 
their  little  daughter,  and  that  she  was  now  a  slave  to  the 
padre  at  Tette.     On  his  return  to  Tette,  the  Doctor  tried 
hard  to  ransom  and  restore  the  girl  to  her  parents,  and  offered 
twice  the  value  of  a  slave ;  the  padre  seemed  willing,  but 
she  could  not  be  found.    This'  padre  was  better  than  the 
average,  men  of  the  country;  and,  being  always  civil  and 
obliging,  would  probably  have  restored  her  gratuitously,  but 
she  had  been  sold,  it  might  be,  to  the  distant  tribe  Bazizulu, 
or  he  could  not  tell  where.     Custom  had  rendered  his  feel- 
ings callous,  and  Chibisa  had  to  be  told  that  his  child  would 
never  return.    It  is  this  callous  state  of  mind  which  leads 
some  of  our  own  blood  to  quote  Scripture  in  support  of 
slavery.      If  we  could  afford  to  take  a  backward  step  in 
civilization,  we  might  find  men  among  ourselves  who  would 

in  like  manner  prove  Mormom'sm  or  any  other  enormity  to 
be  divine. 


104  SET  OUT  FOR  NYASSA,  Chap.  V. 


CHAPTEK   V. 

Leave  the  vessel  for  discovery  of  Lake  Kyassa — Manganja  highlands,  beanti- 
fal,  well-wooded,  and  well-watered — Pasturage — Style  of  introduction  to 
the  Manganja — People,  agriculturists,  and  workers  in  iron,  cotton,  &c  — 
Foreign  and  indigenous  cotton  —  The  PeUie,  or  lip-ring — Possible  use  for 
this  ornament — Beer-drinkers — Ordeal  by  Muave — Mourning  for  the  dead 
—  Belief  in  a  Supreme  Being  —  Pamalombe  Lakelet — Chiefs  wife  killed 
by  a  crocodile — Discovery  of  Lake  Kyassa,  16th  September,  1859 — Its 
subsequent  discovery  by  Dr.  Roecher  —  The  ••  Goree  "  or  slave-stick  —  Seve- 
ral modes  by  which  the  slave-trade  is  supplied  —  Ajawa  —  Manganja  —  More 
suspicious  than  the  Zambesi  tribes  —  Zimika's  lack  of  hospitality — Fine 
and  bracing  climate — Great  influence  to  be  gained  by  a  steamer  on  Lake 

t   Nyassa, 

We  left  the  ship,  on  the  28th  of  August,  1859,  for  the  dis- 
covery of  Lake  Nyassa.  Our  party  numbered  forty-two  in  all 
— ^four  whites,  thirty-six  Makololo,  and  two  guides.  We  did 
not  actually  need  so  many,  either  for  carriage  or  defence; 
but  took  them  because  we  believed  that,  human  nature 
being  everywhere  the  same,  blacks  are  as  ready  as  whites 
to  take  advantage  of  the  weak,  and  are  as  civil  and  respectful 
to  the  powerfuL  We  armed  our  men  with  muskets,  which 
gave  us  influence,  although  it  did  not  add  much  to  our 
strength,  as  most  of  the  men  had  never  drawn  a  trigger, 
and  in  any  conflict  would  in  all  probabiUty  have  been  more 
dangerous  to  us  than  to  the  enemy. 

Our  path  crossed  the  valley,  in  a  north-easterly  direction, 
up  the  course  of  a  beautiful  flowing  stream.  Many  of  the 
gardens  had  excellent  cotton  growing  in  them.  An  hour's 
march  brought  us  to  the  foot  of  the  Manganja  hills,  up 


Chap.  V.  CHITIMBA'S  VILLAGE.  105 

which  lay  the  toilsoine  road.  The  vegetation  soon  changed ; 
as  we  rose,  bamboos  appeared,  and  new  trees  and  plants 
%?ere  met  with,  which  gave  such  incessant  employment  to 
Dr.  Kirk,  that  he  travelled  the  distance  three  times  over. 
Bemarkably  fine  trees,  one  of  which  has  oil-yielding  seeds, 
and  belongs  to  the  mahogany  family,  grow  well  in  the 
hollows  along  the  rivulet  conrses.  The  ascent  became 
very  fiatiguing,  and  we  were  glad  of  a  rest  Loo.king 
back  from  an  eleyation  of  a  thousand  feet,  we  beheld  a 
lovely  prospect  The  eye  takes  in  at  a  glance  the  valley 
beneath,  and  the  many  windings  of  its  sflyer  stream 
Makubula,  or  Kubvula,  from  the  shady  hillnside,  where  it 
emerges  in  foaming  haste,  to  where  it  slowly  glides  into  the 
tranquil  Shire ;  then  the  Shire  itself  is  seen  for  many  a  mile 
above  and  below  Chibisa's,  and  the  great  level  country  beyond, 
with  its  numerous  green  woods ;  until  the  prospect,  west  and 
north-west^  is  bounded  far  away  by  masses  of  peaked  and 
dome-shaped  blue  mountains,  that  fringe  the  highlands 
of  the  Maravi  country. 

After  a  weary  march  we  halted  at  Makolongwe,  the  village 
of  Chitimba.  It  stands  in  a  woody  hollow  on  the  first  of 
the  three  terraces  of  the  Manganja  hUls,  and,  like  all  other 
Manganja  villages,  is  surrounded  by  an  impenetrable  hedge 
of  poisonous  euphorbia.  This  tree  casts  a  deep  shade,  which 
would  render  it  difficult  for  bowmen  to  take  aim  at  the 
villagers  inside.  The  grass  does  not  grow  beneath  it,  and 
this  may  be  the  reason  why  it  is  so  universjJly  used, 
for  when  dry  the  grass  would  readily  convey  fire  to  the 
huts  inside;  moreover,  the  hedge  acts  as  a  fender  to  all 
flying  sparks.  As  strangers  are  wont  to  do,  we  sat  down 
under  some  fine  trees  near  the  entrance  of  the  village. 
A  couple  of  mats,  made  of  split  reeds,  were  spread  for  the 


106  BARTER  WITH  THE  NATIVES.  Chap.  V. 

white  men  to  sit  on ;  and  the  headman  brought  a  s^uati^ 
or  present,  of  a  small  goat  and  a  basket  of  meaL  The  Ml 
value  in  beads  and  cotton  cloth  was  handed  to  him  in  return. 
He  measured  the  cloth,  doubled  it,  and  then  measured  that 
again.  The  beads  were  scrutinized ;  he  had  never  seen  beads 
of  that  colour  before,  and  should  like  to  consult  with  his 
comrades  before  accepting  them,  and  this,  after  repeated 
examinations  and  much  anxious  talk,  he  concluded  to  do. 
Meal  and  peas  were  then  brought  for  sale.  A  fathom  of 
blue  cotton-cloth,  a  full  dress  for  man  or  woman,  was  pro- 
duced. Our  Makololo  headman,  Sininyane,  thinking  a  part 
of  it  was  enough  for  the  meal,  was  proceeding  to  tear  it, 
when  Chitimba  remarked  that  it  was  a  pity  to  cut  such 
a  nice  dress  for  his  wife,  he  would  rather  bring  more 
meaL  **  All  rights"  said  Sininyane ;  "  but  look,  the  cloth  is 
very  wide,  so  see  that  the  basket  which  carries  the  meal  be 
wide  too,  and  add  a  cock  to  make  the  meal  taste  nicely."  A 
brisk  trade  sprang  up  at  once,  each  being  eager  to  obtain  as 
fine  things  as  his  neighbour, — and  all  were  in  good  humour. 
Women  and  girls  began  to  pound  and  grind  meal,  and  men 
and  boys  chased  the  screaming  fowls  over  the  village,  until 
they  ran  them  down.  In  a  few  hours  the  market  was 
completely  glutted  with  every  sort  of  native  food ;  the  prices, 
however,  rarely  fell,  as  they  could  easily  eat  what  was  not 
sold. 

We  slept  under  the  trees,  the  air  being  pleasant,  and 
no  mosquitoes  on  the  hills.  According  to  our  usual  plan  of 
marching,  by  early  dawn  our  camp  was  in  motion.  After  a 
cup  of  coffee,  and  a  bit  of  biscuit  we  were  on  the  way. 
The  air  was  deliciously  cool,  and  the  path  a  little  easier  than 
that  of  yesterday.  We  pasjsed  a  number  of  villages,  oc- 
cupying very  picturesque  spots  among  the  hills,  and  in  a  few 


Chap.  V.  UPPER  SHIIIE  VALLEY.  107 

hours  gained  the  upper  terrace,  3000  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  sea.  The  plateau  lies  west  of  the  Milanje  Mountains,  and 
its  north-eastern  border  slopes  down  to  Lake  Shirwa.  We 
were  aU  charmed  with  the  splendid  country,  and  looked  with 
never-&iling  delight  on  its  fertile  plains,  its  numerous  hills, 
and  majestic  moimtains.  In  some  of  the  passes  we  saw 
bramble-berries  growing;  and  the  many  other  flowers, 
though  of  great  beauty,  did  not  remind  us  of  youth  and 
of  home  like  the  ungainly  thorny  bramble-bushes.  We 
were  a  week  in  crossing  the  highlands  in  a  northerly 
direction ;  then  we  descended  into  the  Upper  Shire  Valley, 
which  is  nearly  1200  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  This 
valley  is  wonderfully  fertile,  and  supports  a  large  population. 
After  leaving  the  somewhat  flat-topped  southern  portion,  the 
most  prominent  mountain  of  the  Zomba  range  is  Njongone, 
which  has  a  fine  stream  running  past  its  northern  base.  We 
were  detained  at  the  end  of  the  chain  some  days  by  one  of 
our  companions  being  laid  up  with  fever.  One  night  we 
were  suddenly  arousfed  by  buffaloes  rushing  dose  by  the 
sick-bed.  We  were  encamped  by  a  wood  on  the  border  of 
a  marsh,  but  our  patient  soon  recovered,  notwithstanding 
tiie  unfavourable  .situation,  and  the  poor  accommodation. 

The  Manganja  country  is  delightfully  well  watered.  The 
clear,  cool,  gushing  streams  are  very  numerous.  Once 
we  passed  seven  fine  brooks  and  a  spring  in  a  single  hour, 
and  this,  too,  near  the  close  of  the  dry  season.  Mount 
Zomba,  which  is  twenty  miles  long,  and  from  7000  to  8000 
feet  high,  has  a  beautiful  stream  flowing  through  a  verdant 
valley  on  its  summit,  and  running  away  down  into  Lake 
Shirwa.  The  highlands  are  well  wooded,  and  many  trees, 
admirable  for  their  height  and  timber,  grow  on  the  various 
watercourses.     **  Is  this  country  good  for  cattle  ?  "  we  inquired 


108  PARAMOUNT  CHIEFS.  Chap.  V. 

of  a  Makololo  herdsman^  whose  occupation  liad  given  him  skill 

in  pasturage,    "  Truly/'  he  replied,  "  do  you  not  see  abundance 

of  those  grasses  which  the  cattle  love/and  get  fat  upon  ?"  Yet 

the  people  have  but  few  goats,  and  fewer  sheep.    With  the 

exception  of  an  occasional  leopard,  there  are  no  beasts  of  prey 

to  disturb  domestic  animals.     Wool-sheep  would,  without 

doubt,  thrive  on  these  highlands.    The  Manganja  generally  live 

in  villages,  each  of  which  has  its  own  headman,  and  he  may  be 

ruler  over  several  adjacent  villages.   The  people  are  regarded 

as  his  children.    All  the  petty  chiefs  of  a  particular  portion 

of  country  give  a  sort  of  allegiance  to  a  paramount  chief, 

called  the  Kondo,  or  Eundo.    They  are  bound  to  pay  him 

a  small  annual  tribute,  and  one  of  the  tusks  of  every  ele* 

phant  killed;  and  it  is  his  duty  in  return  to  assist  and 

protect  them  when  attacked  by  an  enemy.    Mankokwe  is 

the  Bundo  of  the  southern  portion  of  the  highlands;  but 

he  is  a  besotted  character,  who  never  visits  nor  aids  them 

as  his  father  did,  and  so  the  tribute  is  rarely  paid.     Still 

all  acknowledge  him  as  their  Bundo,  and  admit  that  it  i3 

wrong  in  them  not  to  pay  the  tribute,  though  wrong  in  him 

not  to  help  them  when  in  trouble.    Part  of  the  Upper  Shire 

Valley  has  a  lady  paramount,  named  Nyango;  and  in  her 

dominions,  women  rank  higher  and  receive  more  respectful 

treatment  than  their  sisters  on  the  hills. 

The  hill  Chief,  Mongazi,  called  his  wife  to  take  charge  of  a 
present  we  had  given  him.  She  dropped  down  on  her  knees, 
clapping  her  hands  in  reverence,  before  and  after  receiving 
our  present  from  his  lordly  hands.  It  was  painful  to  see  the 
abject  manner,  in  which  the  women  of  the  hill  tribes  knelt 
beside  the  path  as  we  passed;  but  a  great  difference  took 
place  when  we  got  into  Nyango's  country.  The  headman  of 
the  first  of  her  villages,  though  told  that  the  people  of  three 


Chap.  V.  VILLAGE  LIFE.  109 

saccessiye  villages  had  refused  to  admit  us,  said  ''that  it 
made  no  difference,  we  might  sleep  in  his."  He  then  asked 
that  his  wife  also  might  be  allowed  to  come  and  look  at  the 
watch,  compass,  and  other  curiosities-  She  came  with  other 
women,  and  seemed  to  be  a  modest  and  intelligent  person. 
Her  husband  always  consulted  her  before  concluding  a  bargain, 
and  wa^s  evidently  influenced  by  her  opinion.  The  sites  of 
the  Tills^es  are  selected  with  judgment  and  good  tasto,  as 
a  flowing  stream  is  always  near,  and  shady  trees  grow  around. 
In  many  cases  the  trees  have  been  planted  by  the  headman 
himself.  The  Boalo,  or  spreading-place,  is  generally  at  one 
end  of  the  village ;  it  is  an  area  of  twenty  or  thirty  yards  made 
smooth  and  neat,  near  the  favourite  banyan  and  other  trees, 
which  throw  a  grateful  shade  over  it  Here  the  men  sit  at 
various  sorts  of  work  during  the  day,  and  smoke  tobacco  and 
bang ;  and  here,  on  the  clear  delicious  moonlight  nights,  they 
sing,  dance,  and  drink  beer. 

On  entering  a  village,  we  proceeded,  as  all  strangers  do,  at 
once  to  the  Boalo:  mats  of  split  reeds  or  bamboo  were  usually 
spread  for  us  to  sit  on.  Our  guides  then  told  the  men  who 
might  be  there,  who  we  were,  whence  we  had  come,  whither 
we  wanted  to  go,  and  t?hat  were  our  objects.  This  in- 
formation was  duly  carried  to  the  Chief,  who,  if  a  sensible  man, 
came  at  once ;  but,  if  he  happened  to  be  timid  and  suspicious,- 
waited  until  he  had  used  divination,  and  his  warriors  had 
time  to  come  in  from  outlying  hamlets.  When  he  makes  his 
appearance,  all  the  people  begin  to  clap  their  hands  in 
unison,  and  continue  doing  so  till  he  sits  down  opposite  to 
us.  His  counsellors  take  their  places  beside  him.  He  makes 
a  remark  or  two,  and  is  then  silent  for  a  few  seconds.  Our 
guides  then  sit  down  in  front  of  the  chief  and  his  counsellors, 
and  both  parties  lean  forward,  looking  earnestly  at  each  other ; 


110  COURT  ETIQUETTE,  Chap.  V. 

the  Chief  repeats  a  word  such  as  "  Ambuiatu  "  (our  Father,  or 
master) — or  "  moio"  (life),  and  all  clap  their  hands.  Another 
word  is  followed  by  two  claps,  a  third  by  still  more  clapping, 
when  each  touches  the  groimd  with  both  hands  placed 
together.  Then  all  rise,  and  lean  forward  with  measured 
clap,  and  sit  down  again  with  clap,  clap,  clap,  fainter,  and  still 
fainter  till  the  last  dies  away,  or  is  brought  to  an  end  by  a 
smart  loud  clap  from  the  Chief.  They  keep  perfect  time  in  this 
species  of  court  etiquette.  Our  guides  now  tell  the  Chief,  often 
in  blank  verse,  all  they  have  already  told  his  people,  with  the 
addition  perhaps  of  their  own  suspicions  of  the  visitors.  He  asks 
some  questions,  and  then  converses  with  us  through  the  guides. 
Direct  communication,  between  the  chief  and  the  head  of  the 
stranger  party  is  not  customary.  In  approaching  they  oft»n 
ask  who  is  the  spokesman,  and  the  spokesman  of  the  Chief 
addresses  the  person  indicated  exclusively.  There  is  no  lack 
of  punctilious  good  manners.  The  accustomed  presents  are 
exchanged,  with  civil  ceremoniousness ;  until  our  men,  wearied 
and  hungry,  call  out,  "English  do  not  buy  slaves,  they 
buy  food,"  and  then  the  people  bring  meal,  maize,  fowls, 
batatas,  yams,  beans,  beer,  for  sale. 

The  Manganja  are  an  industrious  race;  and  in  addition 
to  working  in  iron,  cotton,  and  basket-making,  they  cultivate 
the  soil  extensively.  All  the  people  of  a  village  turn  out  to 
labour  in  the  fields.  It  is  no  uncommon  thing  to  see  men, 
women,  and  children  hard  at  work,  with  the  baby  lying  close  by 
beneath  a  shady  bush.  When  a  new  piece  of  woodland  is  to 
be  cleared,  they  proceed  exactly  as  farmers  do  in  America, 
The  trees  are  cut  down  with  their  little  axes  of  soft  native 
iron ;  trunks  and  branches  are  piled  up  and  burnt,  and 
the  ashes  spread  on  the  soil.  The  com  is  planted  among 
the  standing  stumps  which  are  left  to  rot    If  grass  land 


Chap.  V.  AGRICULTURAL  INDUSTRY.  HI 

is  to  be  brought  mider  cultivatioii,  as  much  tall  grass  as  the 
labourer  can  conyeniently  lay  hold  of  is  collected  together 
and  tied  into  a  knot.  He  then  strikes  his  hoe  round  the  tufts 
to  sever  the  roots,  and  leaving  all  standing,  proceeds  until  the 
whole  ground  assumes  the  appearance  of  a  field  covered 
with  little  shocks  of  com  in  harvest.  A  short  time  before 
the  rains  begin,  these  grass  shocks  are  collected  in  small 
heaps,  covered  with  earth,  and  burnt,  the  ashes  and 
burnt  soil  being  used  to  fertilize  the  ground.  Large  crops 
of  themapira,  or  Egyptian  dura  {Hohus  sorghum),  are  raised, 
with  millet,  beans,  and  ground-nuts;  also  patches  of 
yams,  rice,  pumpkins,  cucumbers,  ca^ava,  sweet  potatoes, 
tobacco,  and  hemp,  or  bang  {Cannabis  sativa).  Maize  is  grown 
all  the  year  romid.  Cotton  is  cultivated  at  almost  every  village. 
Three  varieties  of  cotton  have  been  found  in  the  country, 
namely,  two  foreign,  and  one  native.  The  tonje  manga,  or 
foreign  cotton,  the  name  showing  that  it  has  been  introduced, 
is  of  excellent  quality,  and  considered  at  JVlanchester  to  bo 
nearly  equal  to  the  best  New  Orleans,  It  is  perennial,  but  re- 
quires replanting  once  in  three  years.  A  considerable  amount 
of  this  variety  is  grown  in  the  Upper  and  Lower  Shire  Valleys. 
Every  family  of  any  importance  owns  a  cotton  patch  which, 
from  the  entire  absence  of  weeds,  seemed  to  be  carefully 
cultivated.  Most  were  small,  none  seen  on  this  journey 
exceeding  half  an  acre ;  but  on  the  former  trip  some  were 
observed  of  more  than  twice  that  size. 

The  tonje  cadja,  or  indigenous  cotton,  is  of  shorter  staple, 
and  feels  in  the  hand  like  wooL  This  kind  has  to  be 
planted  every  season,  in  the  highlands;  yet,  because  it 
makes  stronger  cloth,  many  of  the  people  prefer  it  to  the 
foreign  cotton ;  the  third  vai-iety  is  not  foimd  here.  It  was 
remarked  to  a  number  of  men  near  the  Shire  Lakelet,  a 


112  COTTON  CULTIVATION.  Chap.  T. 

little  Airther  on  towards  Nyassa,  "  You  shonld  plant  plenty 
of  cotton,  and  probably  tbe  Englisb  will  come  and  buy 
it"  "  Truly,"  replied  a  far-travelled  Babisa  trader  to  his 
fellows,  "  tbe  country  is  full  of  cotton,  and  if  these  people 
come  to  buy  they  will  enrich  us."  Our  own  observation  on 
the  cotton  cultiTBted  convinced  us  that  this  was  no  empty 
flourish,  but  a  fact  Everywhere  we  met  with  It,  and  scarcely 
over  entered  a  village,  without  finding  a  number  of  men 
cleaning,  spinning,  and  weaving.  It  ia  first  carefully  separated 
from  the  seed  by  the  fingers,  or  by  an  iron  roller,  on  a  Utflo 
block  of  wood,  and  rove  out  into  long  soft  bands  without  twist. 
Then  it  receives  its  first  twist  on  the  spindle,  and  becomes 


l^Mtirt  Ircb,  and  Waver  imokliig  Uw  huge  tobaca^pe  of  Uu  couDtrr^ 

about  the  thickness  of  coarse  candlewick ;  after  being  taken 
off  and  wound  into  a  large  ball,  it  is  given  the  final  hard  twist, 
and  spun  into  a  firm  cop  on  the  spindle  again:  all  the 
processes  being  painfully  slow. 


Chap.  V.  NATIVE  MANUFACTURES.  113 

Iron  ore  is  dng  oat  of  the  hiUs,  and  ita  manufiicturc  is 
the  staple  trade  of  ttie  aontheru  highUnHn,  Each  village  has 
its  smelting-hoDse,  ita  charcoal-bamers,  and  blacksmiths. 
They  maie  good  axes,  epeare,  needles,  arrow-heads,  brace- 
lets and  anklet^  which,  considering  the  entire  absence  of 
machinery,  are  sold  at  snrprisingly  low  rates ;  a  hoe  over  two 
poonds  in  weight  is  exchanged  for  calico  of  about  the  value  of 


BlickimlUi'i  Fatffi  tot  Bdlom  of  OoMildii. , 

fourpence.  In  villages  near  Lake  Shirwa  and  elsewhere,  the 
inhabitants  enter  pretty  largely  into  the  manufacture  of 
crockery,  or  pottery,  making  by  hand  all  sorts  of  cooking, 
water,  and  grain  pots,  which  they  ornament  with  plumbago 
found  in  the  hills.  Some  find  employment  in  weaving  neat 
baskets  from  split  bamboos,  and  others  collect  the  fibre  of  the 
bnaze,  which  grows  abundantly  on  the  hills,  and  make  it  into 
fish-nets.  These  they  either  use  themselves,  or  exchange 
with  the  fishermen  on  the  river  or  lakes  for  dried  fish  and 
-  salt.  A  great  deal  of  native  trade  is  carried  on  between 
the  villages,  by  means  of  barter  in  tobacco,  salt,  dried  fish, 


114  ^        HAIR-DRESSING— ORNAMENTS.  Chap.  V. 

skins,  and  iron.    Many  of  the  men  are  intelligent-looking, 
with  well-shaped  heads,  agreeable  feces,  and  high  foreheads. 
We  soon  learned  to  forget  colour,  and  we  frequently  saw 
cotintenances][resembling  those  of  white  people  we  had  known 
in  England,   which  brought   back  the  looks  of  forgotten 
ones  vividly  before  the  mind.    The  men  take  a  good  deal 
of  pride  in  the  arrangement  of  their  hair ;  the  varieties  of 
style  are  endless.    One  trains  his  long  locks  till  they  take  the 
admired  form  of  the  buffalo's  horns;   others  prefer  to  let 
their  hair  hang  in  a  thick  coil  down  their  backs,  like  that  ani- 
mal's tail ;  while  another  wears  it  in  twisted  cords,  which,  stif- 
fened by^fiUets  of  the  inner  bark  of  a  tree  wound  spiraUy  round 
each  curl,  radiate  from  the  head  in  all  directions.    Some  have 
it  hanging  all  round  the  shoulders  in  large  masses ;  others 
shave  it  off  altogether.    Many  shave  part  of  it  into  ornamental 
figures,  in  which  the  fjuicy  of  the  barber  crops  out  conspicuously. 
About  as  many  dandies  run  to  seed  among  the  blacks,  as 
among  the  whites.      The    Manganja    adorn    their  bodies 
extravagantly,  wearing  rings  on  their  fingers  and  thumbs, 
besides  throatlets,  bracelets,  and  anklets  of  brass,  copper,  or 
iron.    But  the  most  wonderful  of  ornaments,  if  such  it  may 
be  called,  is  the  pelele,  or  upper-lip  ring  of  the  women.    The 
middle  of  the  upper  lip  of  the  girls  is  pierced  close  to  the 
septum  of  the  nose,  and  a  small  pin  inserted  to  prevent  the 
puncture  closing  up.    After  it  has  healed,  the  pin  is  taken 
out  and  a  larger  one  is  pressed  into  its  place,  and  so  on 
successively  for  weeks,  and  months,  and  years.    The  process 
of  increasing  the  size  of  the  lip  goes^on  till  its  capacity 
becomes  so  great  that  a  ring  of  two  inches  diameter  can 
be  introduced  with  ease.    All  the  highland  women  wear  the 
pelele,  and  it  is  common  on  the  Upper  and  Lower  Shire» 
The  poorer  classes  make  them  of  hollow,  or  of  solid  bamboo» 


Chap.v.  pelele,  or  LIP-RIKG.  115 

bat  the  wealthier  of  ivory,  or  tin.  The  tin  pelele  ia  often  made 
in  the  form  of  a  email  dif^.  The  ivoiy  one  is  not  milike 
a  napkin-ring.    No  woman  ever  appears  in  public  without 


flMt,  or  Lip-ring  df  UiSBuiJii  Womui. 

the  pelele,  except  in  times  of  monming  for  the  dead.  It 
is  &ightfiilly  ogly  to  see  the  upper  lip  projecting  two  inches 
beyond  the  tip  of  the  noee.  When  an  old  wearer  of  s 
hollow  bamboo  ring  smUee,  by  the  action  of  the  mnscles 
of  tho  cheeks,  the  ring  and  lip  ontside  it,  are  dragged  back 
and  thrown  above  the  eyebrows.  The  nose,  is  seen  through 
the  middle  of  the  ring,  and  the  exposed  teeth  show  how 
carefiilly  they  have  been  chipped  to  look  like  those  of  a 
cat  or  crocodila  The  pelele  of  an  old  lady,  Chikanda 
Kadze,  a  Chieftainess,  about   twenty  miles  north  of  Mo- 

1  2 


116  OBJECT  OF  THE  PELELE.  Chap.  V. 

rambala,  hung  down  below  her  chin,  with,  of  course, 
a  piece  of  the  upper  Kp  around  its  border.  The  labial 
letters  cannot  be  properly  pronounced,*  but  the  under 
lip  has  to  do  its  best  for  them,  against  the  upper  teeth 
and  gum.  Tell  them  it  makes  them  ugly;  they  had 
better  throw  it  away;  they  reply,  "Kodil  Eeallyl  it 
is  the  fashion."  How  this  hideous  fashion  originated  is  an 
enigma.  Can  thick  lips  ever  have  been  thought  beautiful, 
and  this  mode  of  artificial  enlargement  resorted  to  in  con- 
sequence? The  constant  twiddling  of  the  pelele  with  the 
tongue  by  the  younger  women  suggested  the  irreverent 
idea  that  it  might  have  been  invented  to  give  safe  employ- 
ment to  that  little  member.  **Why  do  the  women  wear 
these  things?"  we  inquired  of  the  old  Chief,  Chinsunse. 
Evidently  surprised  at  such  a  stupid  question,  he  replied, 
"  For  beauty,  to  be  sure !  Men  have  beards  and  whiskers ; 
women  have  none;  and  what  kind  of  creature  would  a  woman 
be  without  whiskers,  and  without  the  pelele?  She  would 
have  a  mouth  like  a  man,  and  no  beard;  ha!  ha!  ha!" 
Afterwards  on  the  Rovuma,  we  found  men  wearing  the 
pelele,  as  well  as  women.  An  idea  suggested  itself  on 
seeing  the  effects  of  the  slight  but  constant  pressure  ex- 
erted on  the  upper  gum  and  front  teeth,  of  which  our 
medical  brethren  will  judge  the  value.  In  many  cases  the 
upper  frt)nt  teeth,  instead  of  the  natural  curve  outwards, 
which  the  row  presents,  had  been  pressed  so  as  to  appear  as 
if  the  line  of  alveoli  in  which  they  were  planted  had  an 
inward  curve.  As  this  was  produced  by  the  slight  pressure 
of  the  pelele  backwards,  persons  with  too  prominent  teeth 
might  by  slight,  but  long-continued  pressiu-e,  by  some  appli- 
ance only  as  elastic  as  the  h'p,  have  the  upper  gum  and  teeth 
depressed,  especiaJly  in  youth,  more  easily  than  is  usually 


CuAP.  V.  INTOXICATION  OF  THE  MANGANJA.  117 

imagined.    The  pressure  should  bo  applied  to  the  upper  gum 
more  than  to  the  teeth. 

The  Manganja  are  not  a  sober  people :  they  brew  large 
quantities  of  beer,  and  like  it  well.  Having  no  hops,  or  other 
means  of  checking  fermentation,  they  are  obliged  to  drink  the 
whole  brew  in  a  few  days,  or  it  becomes  unfit  for  use.  Great 
merry-makings  take  place  on  these  occasions,  and  drinking, 
drumming,  and  dancing  continue  day  and  night,  till  the  beer 
is  gone.  In  crossing  the  hills  we  sometimes  found  whole  vil- 
lages enjoying  this  kind  of  mirth.  The  veteran  traveller  of  the 
party  remetrked,  that  he  had  not  seen  so  much  drunkenness 
during  all  the  sixteen  years  he  had  spent  in  Africa.  As  we 
entered  a  village  one  afternoon,  not  a  man  was  to  be  seen ; 
but  some  women  were  drinking  beer  under  a  tree.  In  a  few 
moments  the  native  doctor,  one  of  the  innocents,  "  nobody's 
enemy  but  his  own,"  staggered  out  of  a  hut,  with  his  cupping- 
horn  dangling  from  his  neck,  and  began  to  scold  us  for  a 
breach  of  etiquette.  "  Is  this  the  way  to  come  into  a  man's 
village,  without  sending  him  word  that  you  are  coming  ?" 
Our  men  soon  pacified  the  fuddled  but  good-humoured 
medico,  who,  entering  his  beer-cellar,  called  on  two  of 
tliem  to  help  him  to  carry  out  a  huge  pot  of  beer,  which 
be  generously  presented  to  us.  While  the  "  medical  prac- 
titioner" was  thus  hospitably  employed,  the  Chief  awoke 
in  a  fright,  and  shouted  to  the  women  to  run  away,  or 
they  would  all  be  killed.  The  ladies  laughed  at  the  idea 
of  their  being  able  to  run  away,  and  remained  beside 
the  beer-pots.  We  selected  a  spot  for  our  camp,  our  men 
cooked  the  dinner  as  usual,  and  we  were  quietly  eating  it, 
when  scores  of  armed  men,  streaming  with  perspiration, 
came  pouring  into  the  village.  They  looked  at  us,  then 
at  each  other,  and  turning  to  the  Chief  upbraided  him  for 


118  NATIVE  BEER.  Chap.  V. 

so  needlessly  sending  for  them.  '*  These  people  are  peace- 
able ;  they  do  not  hurt  you ;  you  are  killed  with  beer :  *' 
so  saying,  they  returned  to  their  homes. 

We  remarked  the  different  varieties  of  intoxication 
among  these  topers,  the  talkative,  the  boisterous,  the 
silly,  the  stupid,  and  the  pugnacious:  the  last,  when  the 
Chief,  at  the  head  of  his  men,  placed  himself  in  front, 
crying — "  I  stop  this  path,  you  must  go  back."  He  sprang 
aside,  however,  with  more  speed  than  dignity,  when  an 
angry  Makololo  made  a  lunge  at  him  with  the  but  of  his 
musket. 

Native  beer  has  a  pinkish  colour,  and  the  consistency 
of  gruel.  The  grain  is  made  to  vegetate,  dried  in  the 
sun,  pounded  into  meal,  and  gently  boiled,  "When  only 
a  day  or  two  old,  the  beer  is  sweet,  with  a  slight  degree 
of  acidity,  which  renders  it  a  most  grateful  beverage  in 
a  hot  climate,  or  when  fever  begets  a  sore  craving  for 
acid  drinks.  A  single  draught  of  it  satisfies  this  craving 
at  once.  Only  by  deep  and  long-continued  potations  can 
intoxication  be  produced:  the  grain  being  in  a  minutely 
divided  state,  it  is  a  good  way  of  consuming  it^  and  the  decoc- 
tion is  very  nutritious.  At  Tette  a  measure  of  beer  is  exchanged 
for  an  equal-sized  pot  full  of  grain.  A  present  of  this  beer, 
so  re&eshing  to  our  dark  comrades,  was  brought  to  us  in 
nearly  every  village.  Beewirinking  does  not  appear  to 
produce  any  disease,  or  to  shorten  life,  on  the  hills.  Never 
before  did  we  see  so  many  old  grey-headed  men  and  women ; 
leaning  on  their  staves  they  came  with  the  others  to  see  the 
white  men.  The  aged  Chief,  Muata  Manga,  could  hardly  have 
been  less  than  ninety  years  of  age ;  his  venerable  appearance 
struck  the  Makololo.  "  He  is  an  old  man,"  said  they,  "  a  very  old 
man ;  his  skin  hangs  in  wrinkles,  just  like  that  on  elephants' 


Chap.  V.  CUTANEOUS  DISEASES.  1 19 

hips."  "Did  you  never,**  he  was  asked,  "have  a  fit  of  travelling 
come  over  you ;  a  desire  to  see  other  lands  and  people  ?"  No, 
he  had  never  felt  that,  and  had^  never  been  fietr  from  home  in 
his  life.  For  long  life  they  are  not  indebted  to  frequent 
ablutions.  An  old  man  told  us  that  he  remembered  to  have 
washed  once  in  his  life,  but  it  was  so  long  since  that  he 
had  forgotten  how  it  felt.  **Why  do  you  wash?"  asked 
Chinsunse's  women  of  the  Makololo ;  "  our  men  never  do." 

On  the  Upper  Shire  Valley,  a  man,  after  favouring  us  with 
some  queer  geographical  remarks,  followed  us  for  several 
days.  The  Makololo  became  very  much  annoyed  with  him, 
for  he  proclaimed  in  every  village  we  entered — "  These  people 
have  wandered ;  they  do  not  know  where  they  are  going." 
In  vain  did  they  scold  and  order  him  away.  As  soon  as  we 
started,  he  appeared  again  in  the  line  of  march,  with  his 
little  bag  over  his  shoulder,  containing  all  his  worldly  gear, 
and  as  ready  with  his  uncalled-for  remarks  as  before.  Every 
effort  failed  to  drive  him  away,  until  at  length  the  happy 
expedient  was  hit  on,  of  threatening  to  take  hiin  down  to  the 
river  and  wash  him ;  he  at  once  made  off,  and  we  saw  him  no 
more.  Much  skin  disease  is  seen  among  the  Manganja. 
Many  had  ulcers  on  their  limbs ;  indeed,  an  indolent  almost 
incurable  ulcer  is  the  worst  complaint  we  saw.  Some  men 
appeared  as  if  they  had  blotches  of  whitewash  all  over 
them,  and  some  were  afflicted  with  the  leprosy  of  the  Cape. 
Many  fowls  even  have  their  feet  deformed  by  a  peculiar 
thickening  of  the  skin.  We  noticed  also  some  men  marked 
with  smallpox,  and  asked  the  Chief,  Mongazi,  if  he  knew 
whether  it  had  come  to  them  from  the  coast,  or  from  the 
interior.  Being,  as  usual,  amiably  tipsy  and  anxious  to  pay 
us  a  compliment,  he  graciously  replied  he  did  not  know,  but 
thought  it  must  have  come  to  them  from  the  English. 


120  MUAVE  ORDEAL.  Chap.  V. 

The  superstitious  ordeal,  by  drinking  the  poisonous 
muave,  obtains  credit  here ;  and  when  a  person  is  suspected  of 
crime,  this  ordeal  is  resorted  to.  If  the  stomach  rejects  the 
poison,  the  accused  is  pronounced  innocent ;  but  if  it  is 
retained,  guilt  is  believed  to  be  demonstrated.  Their  faith  is  so 
firm  in  its  discriminating  power,  that  the  supposed  criminal 
offers  of  his  own  accord  to  drink  it,  and  even  Chiefs  are  not . 
exempted.  Chibisa,  relying  on  its  eflScacy,  drank  it  several 
times,  in  order  to  vindicate  his  character.  When  asserting  that 
all  his  wars  had  been  just,  it  was  hinted  that,  as  every  Chief  had 
the  same  tale  of  innocence  to  tell,  we  ought  to  suspend  our  judg- 
ment "  If  you  doubt  my  word,'*  said  he, "  give  me  the  muave 
to  drint"  A  Chief  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Zomba  successfully 
went  through  the  ordeal  the  day  before  we  reached  his  village ; 
and  his  people  manifested  their  joy  at  his  deliverance  by  drink- 
ing beer,  dancing,  and  drumming  for  two  days  and  nights.  It  is 
possible  that  the  native  doctor,  who  mixes  the  ingredients 
of  the  poisoned  bowl,  may  be  able  to  save  those  whom  he 
considers  innocent;  but  it  is  difficult  to  get  the  natives  to 
speak  about  the  matter,  and  no  one  is  willing  to  tell  what 
the  muave  poison  consists  of.  We  have  been  shown  trees 
said  to  be  used,  but  had  always  reason  to  doubt  the 
accuracy  of  our  informants.  We  once  found  a  tree  in  a 
village,  with  many  pieces  of  the  bark  chipped  off,  closely 
allied  to  the  Tangena  or  Tanghina,  the  ordeal  poison  tree  of 
Madagascar ;  but  we  could  not  ascertain  any  particulars  about 
it.  Death  is  inflicted  on  those  found  guilty  of  witchcraft,  by 
the  muave. 

The  women  wail  for  the  dead  two  days.  Seated  on  the 
ground  they  chant  a  few  plaintive  words,  and  end  each  verse 
with  the  prolonged  sound  of  a — a,  or  o — o,  or  ea-ea-ea — a. 
Whatever  beer  is  in  the  house  of  the  deceased,  is  poured 


Chap.  V.  PAMALOMBE  LAKELET.  121 

out  on  the    ground  with  the  meal,  and  all  cooking  aud 

water  pots  are  broken,  as  being  of  no  further  use.    Both  men 

and  women  wear  signs  of  mourning  for  their  dead  relatives. 

These  consist  of  narrow  strips  of  the  palm-leaf  wound  round 

the  head,  the  arms,  legs,  neck,  and  breasts,  and  worn  till 

they  drop  off  from  decay.    They  believe  in  the  existence  of  a 

Supreme  Being,  called  Mpamb^,  and  also  Morungo,  and  in  a 

future  state.     "  We  live  only  a  few  days  here,"  said  old  Chin- 

sunse,  "  but  we  live  again  after  death :  we  do  not  know  where, 

or  in  what  condition,  or  with  what  companions,  for  the  dead 

never  return  to  tell  us.    Sometimes  the  dead  do  come  back, 

and  appear  to  us  in  dreams ;  but  they  never  speak  nor  tell  us 

where  they  have  gone,  nor  how  they  fara" 

i  Our  path  followed  the  Shire  above  the  Cataracts,  which  is 

now  a  broad  deep  river,  with  but  little  current   It  expands  in 

one  place  into  a  lakelet,  called  Famalombe,  full  of  fine  fish,  and 

ten  or  twelve  miles  long  by  five  or  six  in  breadtk    Its  banks 

are  low,  and  a  dense  wall  of  papyrus  encircles  it    On  its  western 

shore  rises  a  range  of  hills  running  north.    On  reaching  the 

village  of  the.  Chief  Muana-Moesi,  and  about  a  day's  march 

distant  from  Nyassa,  we  were  told  that  no  lake  hewi  ever  been 

heard  of  there ;  that  the  Kiver  Shire  stretched  on  as  we  saw 

it  now  to  a  distance  of  "  two  months,"  and  then  came  out  from 

between  perpendicular  rocks,  which  towered  almost  to  the  skies. 

Our  men  looked  blank  at  this  piece  of  news,  and  said,  "  Let 

UB  go  back  to  the  ship,  it  is  of  no  use  trying  to  find  the 

lake.*'    "  We  shall  go  and  see  those  wonderful  rocks  at  any 

rate,"*  said  the  Doctor.    "  And  when  you  see  them,"  replied 

Masakasa,   "you  will  just  want  to   see   something   else." 

"But  there  is  a  lake,"  rejoined  Masakasa,  "for  all  their 

denying  it,  for  it  is  down  in  a  book."    Masakasa,  having 

unbounded  faith  in  whatever  was  in  a  book,  went  and  scolded 


122  A  CBOCODILE'S  VICTIM.  Chap.  V. 

the  natives  for  telling  him  an  untruth.  "  There  is  a  lake," 
said  he,  **for  how  could  the  white  men  know  about  it  in 
a  book  if  it  did  not  exist?"  They  then  admitted  that 
there  was  a  lake  a  few  miles  off.  Subsequent  inquiries 
make  it  probable  that  the  story  of  the  "perpendicular 
rocks"  may  have  had  reference  to  a  fissure,  known  to 
both  natives  and  Arabs,  in  the  north-eastern  portion  of  the 
lake.  The  walls  rise  so  high  that  the  path  along  the  bottom 
is  said  to  be  underground.  It  is  probably  a  crack  similar 
to  that  which  made  the  Victoria  Falls,  and  formed  the  Shire 
VaUey. 

The  Chief  brought  a  small  present  of  meal  in  the  evening, 
and  sat  with  us  for  a  few  minutes.  On  leaving  us  he  said  that 
he  wished  we  might  sleep  well.  Scarce  had  he  gone,  when  a 
wild  sad  cry  arose  from  the  river,  followed  by  the  shrieking 
of  women.  A  crocodile  had  carried  off  his  principal  wife,  as 
she  was  bathing.  The  Makololo  snatched  up  their  arms,  and 
rushed  to  the  bank,  but  it  was  too  late,  she  was  gone.  The 
wailing  of  the  women  continued  all  night,  and  next  morning  we 
met  others  coming  to  the  village  to  join  in  the  general  mourn- 
ing.  Their  griefwas  evidently  heartfelt,  as  we  saw  the  teats 
coursing  down  their  cheeks.  In  reporting  this  misfortune 
to  his  neighbours,  Muana-Moesi  said  'Hhat  white  men  came  to 
his  village ;  washed  themselves  at  the  place  where  his  wife 
drew  water  and  bathed;  rubbed  themselves  with  a  white 
medicine  (soap) ;  and  his  wife,  having  gone  to  bathe  after- 
wards, was  taken  by  a  crocodile ;  he  did  not  know  whether 
in  consequence  of  the  medicine  used  or  not."  This  we  could 
not  find  fault  with.  On  our  return  we  were  viewed  with 
awe,  and  all  the  men  fled  at  our  approftch;  the  women 
remained ;  and  this  elicited  the  remark  from  our  men,  "  The 
women  have  the  advantage  of  men,  in  not  needing  to  dread 


Chap.  V.  LAKE  NYASSA  DISCOVERED.  123 

the  spear."  The  practice  of  bathing,  which  our  first  contact 
with  Chinsnnse's  people  led  us  to  believe  was  unkno%vn  to 
the  natives,  we  afterwards  found  to  be  common  in  other  parts 
of  the  Manganja  country. 

We  discovered  Lake  Nyassa  a  little  before  noon  of  the  16th 
September,  1859.  Its  southern  end  is  in  14^  25'  S.  Lat.,  and 
35°  30'  E.  Long.  At  this  point  the  valley  is  about  twelve 
miles  wide.  There  are  hills  on  both  sides  of  the  lake,  but 
the  haze  from  burning  grass  prevented  us  at  the  time  from 
seeing  far.  A  long  time  after  our  return  from  Nyassa,  we 
received  a  letter  from  Captain  E.  B.  Oldfield,  R.N.,  then 
Ciommanding  H.M.S.  Lyra,  with  the  information  that  Dr. 
Eoscher,  an  enterprising  German  who  unfortunately  lost 
his  life  in  his  zeal  for  exploration,  had  also  reached  the 
Lake,  but  on  the  19th  of  November  following  our  discovery; 
and  on  his  arrival  had  been  informed  by  the  natives  that  a 
party  of  white  men  were  at  the  southern  extremity.  On 
comparing  dates  (16th  September  and  19th  November)  we 
were  about  two  months  before  Dr.  Eoscher.  Liformation,  to 
the  same  effect  as  Captain  Oldfield's,  was  also  published  in 
the  Cape  Newspapers  in  a  letter  to  Sir  George  Grey,  the 
Governor,  from  Colonel  Eigby,  H.M.  Consul  and  Political 
Eesident  at  Zanzibar,  who  derived  his  information  from  the 
depositions  of  Dr.  Eoscher's  servants,  after  they  had  reached 
the  coast. 

It  is  not  known  where  Dr.  Eoscher  first  saw  its  waters ; 
as  the  exact  position  of  Nusseewa  on  the  borders  of  the  Lake, 
where  he  lived  some  time,  is  unknown.  He  was  three  days 
north-east  of  Nusseewa,  and  on  the  Arab  road  back  to  the  usual 
crossing-place  of  the  Eovuma,  when  he  was  murdered.  The 
murderers  were  seized  by  one  of  the  Chiefs,  sent  to  Zanzibar, 
and  executed.    He  is  said  to  have  kept  his  discoveries  to 


124  A  SLAVE-PATH.  Chap.  V. 

himself,  with  the  intention  of  publishing  in  Europe  the  whole 
at  once,  in  a  splendid  book  of  travels.  Hence  we  can  only 
conjecture  that  as  he  travelled  on  the  Arab  route  from 
Kilwa  (Quiloa),  he  struck  the  lake  at  the  Arab  crossing-place 
Ngombo,  adjacent  to  Tsenga,  or  possibly  opposite  Kotakota 
Bay,*  The  regular  publication  of  our  letters  by  the  Koyal 
Greographical  Society  we  felt  to  be  an  inestimable  benefit. 
It  fixed  the  date  of,  and  perpetuated  every  discovery. 

The  Chief  of  the  village  near  the  confluence  of  the  Lake 
and  Eiver  Shire,  an  old  man,  called  Mosauka,  hearing  that 
we  were  sitting  under  a  tree,  came  and  kindly  invited  us  to  his 
village.  He  took  us  to  a  magnificent  banyan-tree,  of  which  he 
seemed  proud.  The  roots  had  been  trained  down  to  the  ground 
into  the  form  of  a  gigantic  arm-chair,  without  the  seat.  Four 
of  us  slept  in  the  space  betwixt  its  arms.  Mosauka  brought 
us  a  present  of  a  goat  and  basket  of  meal  "  to  comfort  our 
hearts,"  He  told  us  that  a  large  slave-party,  led  by  Arabs, 
were  encamped  close  by.  They  had  been  up  to  Cazembe's 
country  the  past  year,  and  were  on  their  way  back,  with  plenty 
of  slaves,  ivory,  and  malachite.  In  a  few  minutes  half  a  dozen 
of  the  leaders  came  over  to  see  us.  They  were  armed  with 
long  muskets,  and,  to  our  mind,  were  a  villanous-looking  lot. 
They  evidently  thought  the  same  of  us,  for  they  offered 
several  young  children  for  sale,  but,  when  told  that  we  were 
English,  showed  signs  of  fear,  and  decamped  during  the  night. 
On  our  return  to  the  Kongone,  we  found  that  H.M.S.  Lynx 
had  caught  some  of  these  very  slaves  in  a  dhow ;  for  a  woman 
told  us  she  first  saw  us  at  Mosauka's,  and  that  the  Arabs  had 
fled  for  fear  of  an  uncanny  sort  of  Basungu. 

This   is   one   of  the    great    slave-paths  from   the    inte- 
rior, others   cross  the  Shire  a  little  below,  and  some   on 


*  See  Appendix. 


Chap.  V. 


"GOREE,"OR  SLAVE -STICK. 


125 


the  lake  itself.  We  might  have  released  these  slaves,  but 
did  not  know  what  to  do  with  them  afterwards.  On 
meeting  men,  led  in  slave-sticks,  the  Doctor  had  to  bear 


"Gorec,"  or  SUve-eiick. 

the  reproaches  of  the  Makololo,  who  never  slave,  "  Ay,  you 
call  us  bad,  but  are  we  yellow-hearted,  like  these  fellows — 
why  won't  you  let  us  choke  them?"  To  liberate  and  leave 
Ihem,  would  have  done  but  little  good,  as  the  people  of  the 
surrounding  villages  would  soon  have  seized  them,  and  liave 
sold  them  again  into  slavery.  The  Manganja  Chiefs  sell  their 
own  people,  for  we  met  Ajawa  and  slave-dealers  in  several 
highland  villages,  who  had  certainly  been  encouraged  to  come 
among  them  for  slaves.  The  Chiefs  always  seemed  ashamed 
of  the  traflSc,  and  tried  to  excuse  themselves.  "  We  do  not  sell 
many,  and  only  those  who  have  committed  crimes."  As  a  rule 
the  regular  trade  is  supplied  by  the  low  and  criminal  classes,  and 
hence  the  ugliness  of  slaves.  Others  are  probably  sold  besides 
criminals,  as  on  the  accusation  of  witchcraft.  Friendless 
orphans  also  sometimes  disappear  suddenly,  and  no  one  in- 
quires what  has  become  of  them.  The  temptation  to  sell  their 
people  is  peculiarly  great,  as  there  is  but  little  ivory  on  the 
hiUs,  and  often  the  Chief  has  nothing  but  human  flesh,  with 
which  to  buy  foreign  goods.  The  Ajawa  offer  cloth,  brass 
lings,  pottery,  and  sometimes  handsome  young  women,  and 
agree  to  take  the  trouble  of  carrying  off  by  night  all  those 
whom  the  Chief  may  point  out  to  them.  They  give  four  yards 
of  cotton  cloth  for  a  man,  three  for  a  woman,  and  two  for  a 


126  INHOSPITALITY  OF  THE  MANGANJA.         Chap.  V. 

boy  or  girl,  to  be  taken  to  the  Fortugaese  at  Mosambique, 
Iboe,  and  Qoillimane. 

Another  channel  of  sapply,  fed  by  victims  from  all  classes^ 
but  chiefly  from  the  common  people,  is  frequently  opened, 
when  one  portion  of  a  tribe,  urged  on  by  the  greed  of 
gain,  begins  to  steal  and  sell  their  feUow-clansmen.  The 
evil  does  not  stop  here.  A  feud  is  the  consequence.  The 
weaker  part  of  the  tribe  is  driven  away,  and  wandering 
about,  becomes  so  thoroughly  demoralized,  as  to  live  by 
marauding  and  selling  their  captives,  and  even  each  other, 
without  compunction.  This  was  precisely  the  state  of  the 
portion  of  the  Ajawa  we  first  fell  in  with. 

The  Manganja  were  more  suspicious  and  less  hospitable 
than  the  tribes  on  the  Zambesi.  They  were  slow  to  believe 
that  our  object  in  coming  into  their  country  was  really  what 
we  professed  it  to  be.  They  naturally  judge  us  by  the 
motives  which  govern  themselves.  A  Chief  in  the  Upper 
Shire  Valley,  whose  scared  looks  led  our  men  to  christen  him 
Eitlabolawa  (I  shall  be  killed),  remarked  that  parties  had 
come  before,  with  as  plausible  a  story  as  ours,  and,  after  a 
few  days,  had  jumped  up  and  carried  off  a  number  of  his  people 
as  slaves.  We  were  not  allowed  to  enter  some  of  the  villages 
in  the  valley,  nor  would  the  inhabitants  even  sell  us  food ;  Zi- 
mika's  men,  for  instance,  stood  at  the  entrance  of  the  euphorbia 
hedge,  and  declared  we  should  not  pass  in.  We  sat  down  under 
a  tree  close  by.  A  young  fellow  made  an  angry  oration,  danc- 
ing from  side  to  side  with  his  bow  and  poisoned  arrows,  and 
gesticulating  fiercely  in  our  fistces.  He  was  stopped  in  the 
middle  of  his  harangue  by  an  old  man,  who  ordered  him  to 
sit  down,  and  not  talk  to  strangers  in  that  way ;  he  obeyed 
reluctantly,  scowling  defiance,  and  thrusting  out  his  large  lips 
very  significantly.    The  women  were  observed  leaving  the 


Chap.  V.  APOLOGY  OF  THE  CHIEF.  127 

Tillage ;  and^  suspecting  that  mischief  might  ensue,  we  pro- 
ceeded on  our  journey,  to  the  great  disgust  of  our  men. 
They  were  yery  angry  with  the  natives  for  their  want  of 
hospitality  to  strangers,  and  with  us,  because  we  would  not 
allow  them  to  giye  "  the  things  a  thrashing."  "  This  is  what 
comes  of  going  with  white  men,"  they  growled  out,  "  had 
we  been  with  our  own  Chief,  we  should  have  eaten  their 
goats  to-mght,  and  had  some  of  themselves  to  carry  the 
bundles  for  us  to-morrow."  On  our  return,  by  a  path  which 
left  his  village  on  our  right,  Zimika  sent  to  apologise,  saying 
that  ^he  was  ill,  and  in  another  village  at  the  time ;  it  was 
not  by  his  orders  that  we  were  sent  away ;  his  men  did  not 
know  that  we  were  a  party  wishing  the  land  to  dwell  in 
peace." 

We  were  not  able,  when  hastening  back  to    the    men 
left  in  the  ship,  to  remain  in  the  villages  belonging  to  this 
Chief;  but  the  people  came  after  us  with  things  for  sale, 
and  invited  us  to  stop,  and  spend  the  night  with  them, 
iii^ing^  ^Are  we  to  have  it  said  that  white  people  passed 
through  our  country  and  we  did  not  see  them  ?  "    We  rested 
by  a  rivulet  to  gratify  these  sight-seers.    We  appear  to  them 
to  be  red  rather  than  white ;  and,  though  light  colour  is 
admired  among  themselves,  our  clothing  renders  us  imcouth 
in  aspect.     Blue  eyes   appear  savage,  and  a   red  beard 
hideous.    From  the  numbers  of  aged  persons  we   saw  on 
the  highlands,  and   the   increase  of  mental  and   physical 
vigour  we  experienced  on  our  ascent  from  the  lowlands,  we 
inferred   that   the    climate   was  salubrious,    and   that  our 
countrymen  might  there  enjoy  good  health,  and  also  be  of 
signal  benefit,  by  leading  the  multitude  of  industrious  inha- 
bitants to  cultivate  cotton,  buaze,  sugar,  and  other  valuable 
produce,  to  exchange  for  goods  of  European  manufacture; 


128  THE  TRADE  OP  CAZEMBE.  Cuap.  V. 

at  the  same  time  teaching  them,  by  precept  and  example, 
the  great  truths  of  our  Holy  Keligion* 

Our  stay  at  the  Lake  was  necessarily  short.  We  had  found 
that  tlie  best  plan  for  allaying  any  suspicions,  that  might 
arise  in  the  minds  of  a  people  accustomed  only  to  slave- 
traders,  was  to  pay  a  hasty  visit,  and  then  leave  for  a  while, 
and  allow  the  conviction  to  form  among  the  people  that,  though 
our  course  of  action  was  so  different  from  that  of  others,  we 
were  not  dangerous,  but  rather  disposed  to  be  friendly.  We 
had  also  a  party  at  the  vessel,  and  any  indiscretion  on  their 
part  might  have  proved  fatd  to  the  character  of  the 
Expedition. 

The  trade  of  Cazembe  and  Katanga's  country,  and  of  other 
parts  of  the  interior,  crosses  Nyassa  and  the  Shire,  on  its 
way  to  the  Arab  port,  Kilwa,  and  the  Portuguese  ports  of 
Iboe  and  Mosambique.  At  present,  slaves,  ivory,  malachite, 
and  copper  ornaments,  are  the  only  articles  of  commerce. 
According  to  information  collected  by  Colonel  Rigby  at 
Zanzibar,  and  from  other  sources,  nearly  all  the  slaves  shipped 
from  the  above-mentioned  ports  come  from  the  Nyassa  district. 
By  means  of  a  small  steamer,  purchasing  the  ivory  of  the 
Lake  and  Eiver  above  the  cataracts,  which  together  have  a 
shore-line  of  at  least  600  miles,  the  slave-trade  in  this  quarter 
would  be  rendered  unprofitable, — for  it  is  only  by  the  ivory 
being  carried  by  the  slaves,  that  the  latter  do  not  eat  up  all  the 
profits  of  a  trip.  An  influence  would  be  exerted  over  an  enor- 
mous area  of  country,  for  the  Mazitu  about  the  north  end  of  the 
Lake  will  not  allow  slave-traders  to  pass  round  that  way  through 
their  country.  They  would  be  most  efficient  allies  to  the  Eng- 
lish, and  might  themselves  be  benefited  by  more  intercourse. 
As  things  are  now,  the  native  traders  in  ivory  and  malachite 
have  to  submit  to  heavy  exactions ;  and  if  we  could  give 


Chap.  V.        PLAN  FOR  CHECKING  SLAVE-TRADE.  129 

Hiem  the  same  prices  which  they  at  present  get  after  carrying 
their  merchandise  300  miles  beyond  this  to  the  Coast,  it  might 
indnce  them  to  return  without  going  ftirther.  It  is  only  by 
cutting  off  the  supplies  in  the  interior,  that  we  can  crush  the 
slave-trade  on  the  Coast  The  plan  proposed  would  stop 
the  slave-trade  from  the  Zambesi  on  one  side  and  Eilwa  on  the 
oilier;  and  would  leave,  beyond  this  tract,  only  the  Por- 
tuguese port  of  Inhambane  on  the  south,  and  a  portion  of 
the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar's  dominion  on  the  north,  for  our 
cruisers  to  look  after.  The  Lake  people  grow  abundance 
of  cotton  for  their  own  consumption,  and  can  sell  it  for  a 
penny  a  pound,  or  even  less.  Water-carriage  exists  by  the 
Shire  and  Zambesi  all  the  way  to  Englemd,  with  the  single 
exception  of  a  portage  of  about  thirty-five  miles  past  the 
Murchison  Cataracts,  along  which  a  road  of  less  than  forty 
miles  could  be  made  at  a  trifling  expense;  and  it  seems 
feasible  that  a  legitimate  and  thriving  trade  might,  in  a 
short  time,  take  the  place  of  the  present  unlawful  traffic. 

Colonel  Rigby,  Captains  Wilson,  Oldfield,  and  Chapman, 
and  all  the  most  intelligent  officers  on  the  Coast,  were 
unanimous  in  the  belief,  that  one  small  vessel  on 
the  Lake  would  have  decidedly  more  influence,  and 
do  more  good  in  suppressing  the  slave-trade,  than  half 
a  dozen  men-of-war  on  the  ocean.  By  judicious  operations, 
therefore,  on  a  small  scale  inland,  little  expense  would  be 
incurred,  and  the  English  slave-trade  policy  on  the  East 
would  have  the  same  fair  chance  of  success,  as  on  the  West 
Coast. 


K 


130  RETURN  TO  THE  SHIP.  Chap.  VL 


CHAPTER   VI. 

Beturn  to  vessel — Nearly  poisoned  by  the  juioe  of  cassava  —  **  Cassereep,**  or 
cassava  sap,  a  perfect  preservative  of  meat —  Dr.  Kirk  takes  direct  roate 
from  Ghibisa*8  to  Tette  —  Great  suffering  in  the  journey — Magnetical 
observations  by  Charles  Livingstone  —  Shire  biscuit — Wheaten  flour  neoee- 
sary  for  European  stomachs — Seas(m  for  sowing  wheat — Off  to  Eongono 

—  Two  miles  of  elephants — Our  generous  friend  Senhor  FerrSo — Kongpne 

—  Beach  vessel  for  repairs — Arrival  of  HJkLS.  Lynx — Loss  of  mail  — 
Leave  for  Tette  Dec  16th — Governor  at  Shupanga — His  opinions  and 
ours  —  Confessions  of  an  old  slave-dealer  —  Paul  Mariano  —  Arrival  at 
Tette,  Feb.  2nd,  1860 — Fabulous  silver-mine  of  Chicova — Exactions  of  the 
Banyai  submitted  to  by  the  Portuguese —  Sumptuary  laws — Portuguese 
of  Tette — Wine  or  climate?  —  Funerals — Weddings —  Coal  and  gold  — 
Defer  our  departure  for  the  interior  —  Down  again  to  Eongone  —  Up 
stream  15th  March — Secret  canal  used  for  slaving — €rovemor  of  QuiUi- 
mane  sent  to  discover  Eongone — Mr.  Sunley's  attempt  to  begin  lawful 
trade  at  river  Angoxe — Major  Sicard  at  Mazaro  —  Change  of  names —  Its 
advantages— The  "Asthmatic,"  very  ill  indeed — Mr.  Bae  goes  hcune  on 
duty — The  Kwakwa  river  —  ''Comical  creatures*' — Mice — Hope  for  fiit 
folk,  or  cockroaches  as  aids  to  Banting — Zulus  come  to  lift  their  rents 
at  Senna  —  Striped  Senna  pigs  and  fever — Fever  plant — Beach  Tette  25th 
April  — Want  of  irrigation — One  branch  of  Tette  industry. 

After  a  land-journey  of  forty  days,  we  returned  to  the  ship 
on  the  6th  of  October,  1859,  in  a  somewhat  exhausted  con- 
dition, arising  more  &om  a  sort  of  poisoning,  than  from  the 
usual  fatigue  of  trarel.  We  had  taken  a  little  muUigatawney 
paste,  for  making  soup,  in  case  of  want  of  time  to  cook  other 
food.  Late  one  afternoon,  at  the  end  of  an  unusually  long 
march,  we  reached  Mikena,  near  the  base  of  Mount  Njongone 
to  the  north  of  Zomba,  and  the  cook  was  directed  to  use  a 
couple  of  spoonfuls  of  the  paste ;  but,  instead  of  doing  so, 
he  put  in  the  whole  potfuL    The  soup  tasted  rather  hot^ 


Chap.  VI.  NEARLY  POISONED.  131 

but  we  added  boiled  rice  to  it,  and,  being  very  hungry, 
partook  freely  of  it;  and,  in  consequence  of  the  overdose, 
we  were  delayed  several  days  in  severe  suffering,  and  some 
of  the  party  did  not  recover  till  after  our  return  to  the  ship. 
Our  iUness  may  partly  have  arisen  from  another  cause.  One 
kind  of  cassava  {Jatropha  maligna)  is  known  to  be,  in  its  raw 
state,  poisonous,  but  by  boiling  it  carefully  in  two  waters, 
which  must  be  thrown  off,  the  poison  is  extracted  and  the 
cassava  rendered  fit  for  food.  The  poisonous  sort  is  easily 
known  by  raising  a  bit  of  the  bark  of  the  root,  and  putting 
the  tongue  to  it  A  bitter  taste  shows  poison,  but  it  is 
probable  that  even  the  sweet  kind  contains  an  injurious 
principle.  The  sap,  which,  like  that  of  our  potatoes,  is 
injurious  as  an  article  of  food,  is  used  in  the  "  Pepper-pot " 
of  the  West  Indies,  und^  the  name  of  "  Cassereep,"  as  a 
perfect  preservative  of  meat.  This  juice  put  into  an  earthen 
vessel  with  a  little  water  and  Chili  pepper  is  said  to  keep  meat, 
that  is  immersed  in  it,  good  for  a  great  length  of  time ;  even 
for  years.  No  iron  or  steel  must  touch  the  mixture,  or  it 
will  become  sour.  This  "Pepper-pot,"  of  which  we  first  heard 
from  the  late  Archbishop  Whately,  is  a  most  economical 
meat-safe  in  a  hot  climate ;  any  beef,  mutton,  pork,  or  fowl 
that  may  be  left  at  dinner,  if  put  into  the  mixture  and  a 
little  fresh  cassereep  added,  keeps  perfectly,  though  otherwise 
the  heat  of  the  climate  or  flies  would  spoil  it.  Our  cook, 
however,  boiled  the  cassava  root  as  he  was  in  the  habit  of 
cooking  meat,  namely,  by  filling  the  pot  with  it,  and  then 
pouring  in  water,  which  he  allowed  to  stand  on  the  fire 
until  it  had  become  absorbed  and  boiled  away.  This  method 
did  not  expel  the  poisonous  properties  of  the  root,  or  render 
it  wholesome;  for,  notwithstanding  our  systematic  caution 
in  purchasing  only  the   harmless  sort,  we  suffered  daily 

K  2 


132  GREAT  HEAT  AND  DROUGHT.  Chap.  VI. 

from  its  effects,  and  it  was  only  just  before  the  end  of 
our  trip,  that  this  pernicious  mode  of  boiling  it  was  dis- 
covered by  us. 

In  ascending  3000  feet  from  the  lowlands  to  the  high- 
lands, or  on  reaching  the  low  valley  of  the  Shire  from  the 
higher  grounds,  the  change  of  climate  was  very  marked. 
The  heat  was  oppressive  below,  the  thermometer  standing 
at  from  84°  to  103°  in  the  shade;  and  our  spirits  were  as 
dull  and  languid,  as  they  had  been  exhilarated  on  the 
heights  in  a  temperature  cooler  by  some  20°.  The  water 
of  the  river  was  sometimes  84°  or  higher,  whilst  that  we 
had  been  drinking  in  the  hill  streams  was  only  65°. 

It  was  found  necessary  to  send  two  of  our  number  across 
from  the  Shire  to  Tette;  and  Dr.  Kirk,  with  guides  from 
Chibisa,  and  accompanied  by  Mr.  Kae,  the  engineer,  ac- 
complished the  journey.  We  had  foimd  the  country  to  the 
north  and  east  so  very  well  watered,  that  no  diflSculty  was 
anticipated  in  this  respect  in  a  march  of  less  than  a  hundred 
miles;  but  on  this  occasion  our  friends  suffered  severely. 
The  little  water  to  be  had  at  this  time  of  the  year,  by 
digging  in  the  beds  of  dry  watercourses,  was  so  brackish  as  to 
increase  thirst,  some  of  the  natives  indeed  were  making  salt 
from  it ;  and  when  at  long  intervals  a  less  brackish  supply 
was  found,  it  Vas  nauseous  and  muddy  from  the  frequent 
visits  of  large  game.  The  tsetse  aboimded.  The  country 
was  level,  and  large  tracts  of  it  covered  with  mopane  forest, 
the  leaves  of  which  afford  but  scanty  shade  to  the  baked  earth, 
so  that  scarcely  any  grass  grows  upon  it.  The  sun  was  s<> 
hot,  that  the  men  frequently  jumped  from  the  path,  in  tlie 
vain  hope  of  cooling,  for  a  moment,  their  scorched  feet 
imder  the  almost  shadeless  bushes;  and  the  native  who 
carried  the  provision  of  salt  pork  got  lost,  and  came  into 


Chap.  VI.  STRAITENED  FOR  PROVISIONS.  133 

Tette  two  days  after  the  rest  of  the  party,  with  nothing  but 
the  fibre  of  the  meat  left,  the  fat,  melted  by  the  blazing  son, 
haying  all  run  down  his  back.  This  path  was  soon  made  a 
highway  for  slaving  parties  by  Captain  Raposo,  the  Com- 
mandant. The  journey  nearly  killed  our  two  active  young 
friends ;  and  what  the  slaves  must  have  since  suffered  on  it» 
no  one  can  conceive ;  but  slaving  probably  can  never  be  con- 
dticted  without  enormous  suffering  and  loss  of  life. 

A  series  of  magnetical  observations,  for  ascertaining  the  dip 
and  declination  of  the  needle,  was  made  by  Charles  Living- 
stone at  Dakanamoio  Island,  as  others  had  been  made  before 
at  Expedition  Island  and  at  Tette;  after  which  the  ship 
left  for  the  Kongone,  All  our  provisions  had  been  expended, 
except  tea  and  salt  pork;  but  fowls,  beans,  and  mapira 
meal  could  be  purchased  from  the  natives.  This  meal  does 
not^  however,  agree  with  the  European  stomach ;  and  wheaten 
flour,  in  some  form  or  other,  is  indispensable  to  the  white 
man's  health  in  A£rica.  Our  ingenious  first  or  leading  stoker, 
Bowe,  prepared  mapira  meal  in  many  ways ;  at  first  he  simply 
baked  it  pure,  then  tried  a  little  pork  gravy  with  it ;  next 
he  mixed  bananas,  and  finally  bananas  and  cloves ;  but  in 
whatever  form  the  frightful  Shire  biscuit  was  baked,  the 
same  inevitable  result  ensued,  gnawing  heartburn  throughout 
the  entire  process  of  digestion.  It  would  therefore  be  ad- 
visable for  missionaries  and  traders  to  secure  a  constant 
supply  of  wheat ;  and  that  could  as  easily  be  done  by  them 
as  by  the  Portuguese,  if  only  the  proper  season  were  selected 
for  sowing  it.  April  and  May,  the  beginning  of  the  cold 
weather,  are  the  months  in  which  no  rain  need  be  expected 
to  &11 ;  and  irrigation  must  be  resorted  to,  as  at  the  Cape, 
for  which  there  are  abundant  faciUtiea  If  wheat  is  sown 
in  the  rainy  season,  the  crop  runs  all  to  stalk.     Men  of 


134  GENEROSITY  OF  SENHOR  FERRAO.         Chap.  VI. 

energy  would  never  be  dependent  on  any  other  country  for 
their  food  in  this. 

Mankokwe  now  sent  a  message*  to  say  that  he  wished  us 
to  stop  at  his  village  on  our  way  down.  He  came  on  board 
on  our  arrival  there  with  a  handsome  present^  and  said  that 
his  young  people  had  dissuaded  him  from  visiting  us  before ; 
but  now  he  was  determined  to  see  what  every  one  else  was 
seeing.  A  bald  square-headed  man,  who  had  been  his  Prime 
Minister  when  we  came  up,  was  now  out  of  office,  and  another 
old  man,  who  had  taken  his  place,  accompanied  the  Chiet 
In  passing  the  Elephant  Marsh,  we  saw  nine  large  herds 
of  elephants;  they  sometimes  formed  a  line  two  miles 
long.  On  the  26th  of  October  a  heavy  thunderstorm  came 
on,  and  some  Ifirge  hailstones  fell,  to  the  surprise  of  our 
Senna  men,  who  had  never  seen  heavy  hail  before,  though 
it  is  not  at  all  unusual  for  it  to  fall  further  inland.  A 
shower  fell  at  Kuruman  which  killed  kids,  fowls,  and  ante- 
lopes ;  another  at  Kolobeng  was  destructive  to  the  glass  of 
the  mission-house  windows. 

On  the  2nd  of  November  we  anchored  off  Shamoara, 
and  sent  the  boat  to  Senna  for  biscuit  and  other  provisions. 
Senhor  Ferrao,  with  his  wonted  generosity,  gave  us  a  pres^it 
of  a  bullock,  which  he  sent  to  us  in  a  canoe.  Wishing  to  know 
if  a  second  bullock  would  be  acceptable  to  us,  he  consulted 
his  Portuguese  and  English  dictionary,  and  asked  the  sailor 
in  charge  if  he  would  take  another;  but  Jack,  mistaking  the 
Portuguese  pronunciation  of  the  letter  A,  replied,  "Oh  no, 
sir.  thank  you,  I  don't  want  an  otter  in  the  boat,  they  are 
such  terrible  biters !" 

"We  had  to  ground  the  vessel  on  a  shallow  sandbank  every 
m'ght ;  she  leaked  so  fast,  that  in  deep  water  she  would  have 
sunk,  and  the  pump  had  to  be  worked  all  day  to  keep  her 


Chap.  VI.  LOSS  OF  MAIL-BAGS.  135 

afloat.  Heavy  rains  fell  daily,  producing  the  usual  injurious 
effects  in  the  cabin ;  and  unable  to  wait  any  longer  for  our 
associates,  who  had  gone  overland  from  the  Shire  to  Tette, 
we  ran  down  to  the  Kongone  and  beached  her  for  repairs. 
Her  Majesty's  ship  Lynx,  Lieut  Berkeley  commanding, 
called  shortly  afterwards  with  supplies;  the  bar,  which 
had  been  perfectly  smooth  for  some  time  before,  became 
rather  rough  just  before  her  arrival,  so  that  it  was  two  or 
three  days  before  she  could  communicate  with  us.  Two  of  her 
boats  tried  to  come  in  on  the  second  day,  and  one  of  them, 
TnistAking  the  passage,  capsized  in  the  heavy  breakers  abreast 
of  the  island.  Mr.  Hunt^  gunner,  the  officer  in  charge  of  the 
second  boat,  behaved  nobly,  and  by  his  skilful  and  gallant 
conduct  succeeded  in  rescuing  every  one  of  the  first  boat's 
crew.  Of  course  the  things  that  they  were  bringing  to  us 
were  lost,  but  we  were  thankful  that  all  the  men  were  saved. 
The  loss  of  the  mail-bags,  containing  Government  despatches 
and  our  friends'  letters  for  the  past  year,  was  felt  severely, 
as  we  were  on  the  point  of  starting  on  an  expedition  into 
the  interior,  which  might  require  eight  or  nine  months; 
and  twenty  months  is  a  weary  time  to  be  without  news  of 
friends  and  femily.  In  the  repairing  of  our  crazy  craft,  we 
received  kind  and  efficient  aid  from  Lieutenant  Berkeley, 
and  we  were  enabled  to  leave  for  Tette  on  December  16th. 

On  our  way  up,  we  met  the  Governor  of  QuiUimane 
coming  down  in  a  boat.  He  said  that  he  was  ordered  by 
the  Lisbon  Government  to  select,  after  personal  investiga- 
tion, the  best  port  for  ships  to  enter,  and  the  best  landing- 
place  for  goods.  We  gave  hiTn  directions  how  to  find 
Kongone.  •  He  added  that  he  was  confident  that  the  Portu- 
guese of  his  own  district  knew  of  a  mouth  from  which  they 
exported  slaves,  but  they  would  not  tell  him  where  it  was, 


136  GOVERNOR  AT  SHUPANGA.       Cuap.  VI. 

and  it  was  on  this  account  he  applied  to  us.  His  Excellency 
next  morning  unfortunately  caught  fever,  and  returned 
before  he  reached  the  river's  moutL  A  Portuguese  naval 
ofiScer  was  subsequently  sent  by  his  Government  to  examine 
the  diflferent  entrances.  He  looked  only,  and  then  made  a 
report,  in  which  our  published  soundings  were  used  without 
acknowledgment.  His  own  countrymen  smiled  at  the  silly 
vanity  exhibited  by  their  Government  in  thus  seeking  in- 
formation, and  all  the  while  pretending  to  antecedent  know- 
ledge. When  opposite  Expedition  Island,  the  furnace  bridge 
of  our  steamer  broke  down,  as  it  had  often  done  before. 
Luckily  it  occurred  at  a  good  place  for  game,  so  we  got 
buffalo  beef  and  venison  whilst  it  was  undergoing  repair. 

On    the   31st   December,   1859,  we  reached  Shupanga, 
where  we  had  to  remain  eight  days,  awaiting  the  arrival 
of  cotton  cloth  from  QuilUmane.     Grey  calico  or  sheet- 
ing   is   the  usual   currency   of  Eastern   Africa,    and   this 
supply  was  to  serve  as  money  during  our  expedition  into 
the  interior.    The  governor  and  his  two  handsome  grown-up 
daughters  were  staying  in  the  Shupanga-house.    It  is  seldom 
that  the  Portuguese  show  any  repugnance  to  being  served  by 
blacks,  but  he  preferred  to  be  waited  on  by  his  daughters, 
and  they  performed  their  duty  with  graceful  ease.    This  was. 
the  more  agreeable  to  us,  inasmuch  as  one  rarely  meets  the 
Portuguese  ladies  at  table  in  this  country.    His  Excellency, 
talking  in  no  way  confidentially,  but  quite  openly, — ^indeed 
it  is  here  the  common  mode  of  speaking  of  lamentable  tenths 
— said,  that  the  Portuguese  in  this  country  were  a  miserable 
lot,  quite  debased  by  debauchery,  and  with  no  enterprise 
whatever.      A  few  of  the  large  slaveholders,  had  they  any 
vigour  left,   might  each  send  fifty  or  a  hundred  slaves  to 
the  Cape,  Mauritius,  and  England,  to  learn  sugar-making 


Chap.  VI.  PORTUGUESE  CUNNING.  137 

and  trades;  after  which  they  could  manufacture  their  own 
cloth  &om  cotton  grown  on  the  spot ;  and  make  their  own 
sugar  too,  instead  of  importing  it  fix)m  abroad :  he  saw 
no  reason  even  why  they  should  not  ere  long  have  a  railroad 
across  the  continent  to  Angola ! 

His  Excellency's  remarks  exhibit  a  failing  often  noticed 
among  the  Portuguese,  and  resembling  that  of  certain  of  our 
countrymen,  who  take  a  foolish  pride  in  deriding  everything 
English.  If  we  may  judge  by  our  own  impressions,  strangers 
would  either  regret  to  hear  a  man,  as  we  often  have,  wind- 
ing up  a  tirade  with  the  climax  '^  I  am  horribly  ashamed 
that  I  was  bom  a  Portuguese ; "  or  would  despise  him.  His 
observations  also  showed  the  magnificent  ideas  that  are 
entertained,  to  the  entire  neglect  of  plain  matter-of-fact 
business  and  industry.  Indigo  six  feet  high  was  growing 
self-sown  in  abundance  at  our  feet;  superior  cotton  was 
found  about  a  mile  off,  which  had  propagated  itself  in 
spite  of  being  burned  off  annually  for  many  years;  and 
sugar-cane  is  said  to  be  easily  cultivated  on  the  greater 
part  of  the  Zambesi  delta;  but,  instead  of  taking  the 
benefit,  in  a  common-sense  way,  of  these  obvious  advan- 
tages, our  friends,  while  indulging  in  magnificent  dreams  of 
a  second  East  India  Company,  to  be  established  by  English 
capitalists  in  Eastern  Africa,  were  all  the  while  diligently 
exporting  the  labour  to  the  Island  of  Bourbon.  The  pro- 
gramme of  this  English  Company,  carefully  drawn  out  by  a 
Minister  of  the  Crown  at  Lisbon,  provides  with  commend- 
able stringency  for  the  erection  of  schools  and  bridges,  the 
Tnfilring  of  roads,  and  deepening  of  harbours,  in  this  land 
of  "Prester  John,"  all  to  be  delivered  back  to  the  Portu- 
guese at  the  lapse  of  twenty  years ! 

His  Excellency  adverted  to  the  notorious  fact,  that  the 


138  CONFESSIONS  OF  A  SLAVE-TKADER.         Chap.  VI. 

Home  Govemment  of  Portugal  had  to  uphold  the  Settlements 
in  Eastern  Africa  at  an  annual  loss  of  j£5000y  while  litUe  or 
no  trade  went  thence  to  Lisbon,  and  no  Portuguese  ever 
made  a  fortune  and  retired  to  spend  it  at  home.  It  is  indeed 
matter  of  intense  regret,  that  statesmen,  known  by  the  laws 
they  have  enacted  to  be  enlightened  men,  should  be  the 
means  of  perpetuating  so  much  misery  in  this  slave-making 
coimtry,  by  keeping  out  other  nations,  with  a  pretence  to 
dominion  where  they  have  absolutely  no  power  for  good. 
Is  it  not  paying  too  dearly  for  a  mere  swagger  in  Europe,  to 
have  to  bear  the  odium  of  united  Christendom,  as  the 
first  to  begin  the  modem  ocean  slave-trade,  and  the  last  to 
abandon  it  ? 

A  worn  out  slave-trader,  sadly  diseased,  and  nearly  blind, 
used  to  relate  to  us  in  a  frank  and  open  manner  the 
moving  incidents  of  his  past  career.  It  was  evident  that 
he  did  not  see  slavery  in  the  same  light  as  we  did.  His 
countrymen  all  knew  that  the  plea  of  humanity  was  the 
best  for  exciting  his  liberality,  and  he  was  certainly  most 
generous  and  obliging  to  us.  On  expressing  our  surprise 
that  so  humane  a  man  could  have  been  guilty  of  so  much 
cruelty,  as  the  exportation  of  slaves  entailed,  he  indig- 
nantly denied  that  he  had  ever  torn  slaves  away  ftom 
their  homes.  He  had  exported  "  brutoa  do  mato"  beasts  of 
the  field,  alone,  that  is,  natives  still  wild,  or  lately  caught  in 
forays.  This  way  of  viewing  the  matter  made  him  gravely  tell 
us,  that  when  his  wife  died,  to  dull  the  edge  of  his  grief  he 
made  a  foray  amongst  the  tribes  near  the  mouth  of  the  Shire, 
and  took  many  captives.  He  had  commenced  slave-trading 
at  Angola  and  made  several  fortunes;  but  somehow  managed 
to  dissipate  them  all  in  riotous  living  in  a  short  time  at  Bio 
de  Janeiro, — "  The  money  a  man  makes  in  the  slave-trade," 


Chap.  VI.  SENHOR  VIANNA.  139 

said  he,  ^'  is  all  bad,  and  soon  goes  back  to  the  deviL'*  Some 
twelve  years  since,  he  embarked  with  a  lot  of  ivory  from 
Qnillimane,  and  the  vessel  was  seized  as  a  slaver  and  carried 
to  the  Cape.  Other  ships  of  his  had  been  captured  by  our 
cruisers,  and  he  had  nothing  to  say  against  that,  it  was  all 
right  and  fair,  for  they  were  actually  employed  in  the  slave- 
trade.  But  it  was  wrong,  he  thought,  for  the  English  to  take 
this  vessel,  as  she  was  then  on  a  lawful  voyage.  The  English 
officers  had  thought  so  too,  and  wished  to  restore  it  to 
him,  and  would  have  done  so,  for  they  were  gentlemen,  but 
a  rascally  countryman  of  his  own  at  the  Cape  opposed  them^ 
and  his  vessel  was  condemned.  Many  years  afterwards  a 
naval  officer,  who  had  been  in  the  cruiser  that  took  his  ship, 
accompanied  us  up  the  river,  and,  recognising  our  friend,  at 
once  informed  him  that  the  British  Government,  having  sub- 
sequently ascertained  that  the  capture  of  his  vessel  was 
illegal,  had  paid  to  the  Portuguese  Government  the  full  value 
of  both  ship  and  cargo. 

Senhor  Vianna,  a  settler,  had  just  purchased  a  farm  of 
three  miles  square,  one  side  of  which  was  the  battle-field  of 
Mazaro ;  and  for  this  he  was  to  pay  nine  hundred  dollars,  or 
£180,  in  three  years.  He  also  rented  from  the  Government 
forty  miles  of  Mariano's  estate,  situated  on  the  Shire  and 
Zambesi  Mr.  Azevedo  rented  for  many  years  eighty  miles 
of  the  land  on  the  Eastern  side  of  Mazaro.  The  rental  of  a 
few  hundred  dollars  is  made  up  by  the  colonos  or  serfs  paying 
him  who  farms  the  land  a  bag  or  two  of  grain  annually, 
and  performing  certain  services  somewhat  as  was  done  in  our 
"cottar"  system.  TheLandeens  or  Zulus  on  the  opposite  or 
southern  bank  had  come  down  for  their  tribute,  but  Vianna 
sent  a  small  present,  and  begged  them  not  to  press  for  it  until 
the  Governor  had  gone.    Meanwhile  sending  all  his  goods  to 


140  PAUL  MARIANO.  Chap.  VI. 

the  opposite  side,  he  shortly  after  left  with  the  Governor,  the 
Zulus  being  unpaid.  The  chief  object  in  pajring  the  Zulu  tax 
is  to  obtain  permission  to  cut  the  gigantic  Gunda  trees,  some 
twenty  miles  inland,  for  the  construction  of  the  large  "  coch^^ 
or  canoes  that  are  used  on  the  Zambesi.  He  had,  by  felling 
the  timber,  secured  canoes  enough  firom  the  estate  to  last 
ten  years,  and  trusted  that,  long  ere  that  time  had  expired, 
his  sort  of  moonlight  flitting  would  be  forgotten.  He  com- 
plained bitterly,  notwithstanding,  of  the  want  of  respect  shown 
by  these  natives  to  the  Governor  and  himself. 

Whilst  we  were  at  Shupanga,  Paul  Mariano  was  carried 
past,  on  his  way  to  Senna,  a  prisoner  in  a  canoe.  He  had 
been  accused  of  murdering  a  feio  poor  black  felUncs,  one  of 
whom  was  a  carpenter,  belonging  to  the  well-known  Senhor 
Azevedo.  An  oflScer  and  some  soldiers  made  a  descent  on 
Mariano  by  night,  and  took  him  prisoner.  His  sister  came 
to  the  Governor  and  asked  him  outright,  before  a  number  of 
gentlemen,  how  much  money  he  required  to  let  her  brother 
go  free.  His  Excellency,  of  course,  was  very  much  shocked 
at  her  audacity,  and  indignantly  reprunanded  her  ;  but, 
singularly  enough,  within  a  few  days  Paul  made  his  escape, 
and  returned  to  his  island,  where  he  has  ever  since  remained 
undisturbed.  Before  we  knew  where  he  had  gone,  a  gen- 
tleman, well  acquainted  with  the  ways  of  the  country,  was 
asked  whither  he  imagined  Paul  had  fled.  «  Bah !  (qual !)" 
said  he,  **  to  his  own  house  to  be  sure ; "  and  thither  he  had 
gone. 

We  had  now  frequent  rains,  and  the  river  rose  considerably ; 
our  progress  up  the  stream  was  distressingly  slow,  and  it  was 
not  until  the  2nd  of  February,  1860,  that  we  reached  Tette. 
]Mr.  Thornton  returned  on  the  same  day  from  a  geological  tour, 
by  which  some  Portuguese  expected  that  a  fabulous  silver- 


Chap.  VI.  EXACTIONS  OF  THE  BANYAI.  141 

mine  would  be  rediscovered.  The  tradition  in  the  country  is, 
that  the  Jesuits  formerly  knew  and  worked  a  precious  lode 
at  Chicova.  Mr.  Thornton  had  gone  beyond  Zumbo,  in  com- 
pany with  a  trader  of  colour ;  he  soon  after  this  left  the 
Zambesi,  and,  joining  the  expedition  of  the  Baron  van  der 
Decken,  explored  tlie  snow  mountain  Kilimanjaro,  north-west 
of  Zanzibar.  Mr.  Thornton's  companion,  the  trader,  brought 
back  much  ivory,  having  found  it  both  abundant  and  cheap. 
He  was  obliged,  however,  to  pay  heavy  fines  to  the  Banyai  and 
other  tribes,  in  the  country  which  is  coolly  claimed  in  Europe 
as  Portuguese.  During  this  trip  of  six  months  200  pieces  of 
cotton  cloth  of  sixteen  yards  each,  besides  beads  and  brass 
wire,  were  paid  to  the  different  Chiefs,  for  leave  to  pass  through 
their  country.  In  addition  to  these  sufficiently  weighty  exac- 
tions, the  natives  of  this  dominion  have  got  into  the  habit 
of  impeding  fines  for  alleged  milandos,  or  crimes,  which  the 
trader's  men  may  have  unwittingly  committed.  The  mer- 
chants, however,  submit  rather  than  run  the  risk  of  fighting. 
The  ivory  is  cheap  enough  to  admit  of  the  payment. 
Each  merchant  of  Tette  is  said  to  be  obliged  to  pay  for 
lihe  maintenance  of  a  certain  number  of  the  soldiers  in 
the  garrison;  and  he  who  had  just  returned  bom  the 
interior  had  to  support  five,  although  no  services  were 
rendered  to  him.  The  usual  way  of  bringing  the  ivory 
down  is  by  canoes  from  Zumbo  to  Chicova ;  there  the  canoes 
are  left  and  land  carriage  takes  their  place  past  Eebrabasa. 
This  trader  hired  the  Banyai  to  carry  the  ivory  past  the  rapids. 
They  agreed  to  do  so  for  three  yards  of  cloth  each  a  trip,  but 
threw  down  their  loads  on  the  path  repeatedly,  demanding 
more  and  more  until  they  raised  their  claims  to  ten  yards.  '*  I 
could  have  fought  and  beaten  them  all  with  my  own  men,"  said 
the  trader,  "  but  on  reaching  Tette  the  Grovemor  would  have 


142  INTERFERENCE  WITH  TARIFF.  Chap.  VI. 

fined  me  for  disturbing  the  peace  of  the  country.  The  Banyai 
would  have  robbed  those  of  my  party  behind,  of  the  ivory,  and 
all  the  redress  to  be  obtained  from  our  authorities  would  have 
been  the  mortification  of  knowing,  that,  on  hearing  my  com- 
plaint they  had  sent  up  to  the  Banyai  to  purchase  my  ivory 
at  a  cheap  rate  for  themselves." 

The  senior  ofiScer,  since  deceased,  was  Acting  Commandant 
of  the  fort  at  Tette,  and  was  a  rare  specimen  of  a  Governor. 
Soon  after  he  came  into  power  he  passed  a  sumptuary  law 
defining  the  market  prices  of  native  produce.  Owing  to  the 
desolating  wars  of  former  years,  the  cost  of  provisions  was 
nearly  three  times  as  much  as  in  bygone  days ;  so  his  Excel- 
lency determined  to  reduce  prices  to  their  former  standard, 
and  proclaimed  that  in  future  twenty-four  fowls  instead 
of  eight  were  to  be  sold  for  two  yards  of  calico,  and  that 
the  prices  of  sheep,  goats,  and  oil  should  be  reduced  in  like 
proportion.  The  first  native  who  came  to  market  refused 
to  sell  his  fowls  at  Grovemment  prices,  and  was  at  once 
hauled  up  before  the  irate  Commandant,  and,  for  contumacy 
to  this  new  re-enactment  of  old  laws,  condemned  to  be 
marched  up  and  down  the  street  all  day,  with  his  cackling 
merchandise  hung  round  his  neck,  and  then  sent  to  prison  to 
pass  the  night.  Another  poor  fellow  brought  a  pot  of  ground- 
nut-oil for  sale,  and  was  condemned  to  drink  of  it  largely,  for 
refusing  to  sell  it  at  the  legal  rate.  The  only  difficulty  that 
this  gentleman  met  with  in  carrying  out  his  reforms  arose 
from  the  natives  declining  to  come  with  their  produce  until 
the  laws  were  repealed. 

As  there  is  a  pretty  high  tariff  on  all  imported  wines  and 
spirits,  Tette  for  a  mere  village  must  yield  a  respectably 
large  revenue.  The  climate  is  usually  blamed  for  every- 
thing ;  thus  the  merchants,  being  of  a  social  turn,  have  night 


Chap.  VL  INTEMPERANCE  AT  TETTE.  143 

parties  in  each  other's  houses.     During  these  meetingSy  the 
curious  debilitating  effects  of  the  climate  may  be  witnessed. 
In  the  course  of  an  hour  a  number  of  the  members  be- 
come too  feeble  to  sit  in  their  chairs,  and  slip  unconsciously 
under  the  table;  while  others,  who   have    been   standing 
up  loudly  singing  or  talking,  faU  into  one  another's  arms, 
swearing    eternal    friendship,    but    gradually  losing   con- 
trol  both  of  tongue  and  limb.    Slaves  sit  at  the  door,  who^ 
understanding  these  symptoms,  enter  and  bear  their  weak 
and  prostrate  masters  home.     We  should  not  hesitate  to 
ascribe  these  symptoms  to  inebriety,  if  intoxication  was  not 
described  here  by  the  phrase  *'he  speaks  English,"  that  is, 
^'he's  drunk;"  so  that  any  such  charge  would  have  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  tu  qtioque.    The  shocking  prevalence  of  intem- 
perance and  other  vices  among  the  Portuguese  at  Tette  made 
us  wonder,  not  that  they  had  fever,  but  that  they  were  not 
aU   swept   off  together.      Their  habits  would  be  fatal  in 
any  climate ;  the  natives  marvelled  even  more  than  we  did ; 
our  Makololo,  for  instance,  looked  on  aghast  at  these  con- 
Tivial  parties,  and  Sininyaue  described  one  in  a  way  that 
might  have  done  the  actors  good.    '^  A '  Portuguese  stands 
up,**  said  he,  "and  cries  *Viva!'  that  means,  I  am  pleased; 
another  says,  *Vival*  I  am  pleased  too;  and  then  they  all 
shout  out  *  Viva!'  We  are  all  pleased  together ;  they  are  so 
glad  just  to  get  a  little  beer.'*    One  night  he  saw  three 
inebriated  officers  in  the  midst  of  their  enjoyment,  quarrel- 
ling about  a  &lse  report ;  one  jumped  on  his  superior  and 
tried  to  bite  him ;  and,  whilst  these  two  were  rolling  on  the 
floor,  the  third  caught  up  a  chair  and  therewith  pounded 
them  both.     Sininyane,  horrified  at  such  conduct,  exclaimed, 
"  What  kind  of  people  can  these  whites  be,  who  treat  even 
their  chiefs  in  this  manner  ?  " 


144  FUNERALS— WEDDINGS.  Chap.  VI. 

The  general  monotony  of  existence  at  Tette  is  sometimes 
relieved  by  an  occasional  death  or  wedding.  When  the 
deceased  is  a  person  of  consequence,  the  quantity  of  gun- 
powder his  slaves  are  allowed  to  expend  is  enormous.  The 
expense  may,  in  proportion  to  their  means,  resemble  that 
incurred  by  foolishly  gaudy  funerals  in  England.  When  at 
Tette,  we  always  joined  with  sympathizing  hearts  in  aiding, 
by  our  presence  at  the  last  rites,  to  soothe  the  sorrows  of  the 
surviving  relatives.  We  are  sure  that  they  would  have  done 
the  same  to  us,  had  we  been  the  mourners.  We  never  had  to 
complain  of  want  of  hospitality.  Indeed  the  great  kind- 
ness shown  by  many,  of  whom  we  have  often  spoken,  will  never 
be  eflTaced  from  our  memory  till  our  dying  day.  When  we  speak 
of  their  failings  it  is  in  sorrow,  not  in  anger.  Their  trading 
in  slaves  is  an  enormous  mistake.  Their  Government  plsices 
them  in  a  false  position  by  cutting  them  off  from  the  rest  of 
the  world ;  and  of  this  they  always  speak  with  a  bitterness 
which,  were  it  heard,  might  alter  the  tone  of  the  statesmen  of 
Lisbon.  But  here  there  is  no  press,  no  booksellers'  shops, 
and  scarcely  a  schoolmaster.  Had  we  been  bom  in  similar 
untoward  circumstances — ^we  tremble  to  think  of  it ! 

The  weddings  are  celebrated  with  as  much  jollity  as  wed- 
dings are  anywhere.  We  witnessed  one  in  the  house  of  our 
friend  the  Padre.  It  being  the  marriage  of  his  god-daughter, 
he  kindly  invited  us  to  be  partakers  in  his  joy ;  and  we  there 
became  acquainted  with  old  Donna  Eugenia,  who  was  a 
married  wife  and  had  children,  when  the  slaves  came  from 
Cassange,  before  any  of  us  were  bom.  The  whole  merry- 
making was  marked  by  good  taste  and  propriety. 

Another  marriage  brought  out  a  feature  in  the  Catholic 
church,  akin,  we  believe,  to  a  custom  in  Scotland,  which  com- 
mended itself  to  us  as  right.    Our  friend  Captain  TerrazSo  was 


a 

9  S 


It 


Chap.  VI.  COAL  AT  TETTE.  145 

about  to  be  married  to  a  young  lady  of  no  less  illustrious 
a  name  than  Victoria  Alexandrina,  the  daughter  of  one  of  the 
richest  merchants  of  Tette.  But  her  mother  had  been  living 
only  in  a  state  of  concubinage ;  and,  to  legitimatize  the  chil- 
dren, the  marriage  of  the  parents  was  first  celebrated,  and  then 
TerrazSo  received  his  bride,  and  another  gentleman  her  sister 
on  the  same  day.  With  our  laws  it  seems,  to  be  a  pity  that 
those  who  have  the  misfortune  to  be  bom  out  of  wedlock 
should  be  condemned,  for  no  sin  of  their  own,  to  bear  the 
stain  through  life. 

In  the  wedding*  processions,  the  brides  and  bridegrooms  are 
carried  in  hammocks  slung  to  poles,  called  machillas.  The 
female  slaves,  dressed  in  all  their  finery,  rejoice  in  the  happi- 
ness of  their  masters  and  mistresses.  The  males  carry  the 
machillas,  or  show  their  gladness  by  discharging  their 
muskets.  The  friends  of  the  young  couple  form  part  of  the 
procession  behind  the  machillas,  dressed  usually  in  black 
dress-coats  and  tall  chimney-pot  hats,  which  to  us  outlandish 
spectators  look  more  hideous  now  than  they  ever  did  at 
home.  The  women,  as  seen  in  the  woodcut,  stand  admiring 
their  neighbour's  finery,  balancing  their  water-pots  grace- 
fully on  their  heads;  while  all  the  invited  guests  pro- 
ceed to  wash  down  the  dust,  raised  by  the  crowd,  in  copious 
potations,  followed  by  feasting,  dancing,  and  joyous  merry- 
making. 

About  the  only  interesting  object  in  the  vicinity  of  Tette  is 
the  coal  a  few  miles  to  the  north.  There,  in  the  feeders  of 
the  stream  Kevubue,  it  crops  out  in  cliff  sections.  The  seams 
are  from  four  to  seven  feet  in  thickness ;  one  measured  was 
found  to  be  twenty-five  feet  thick.  That  on  the  siurface 
contains  much  shale,  but,  a  shaft  having  been  run  in  horizon- 
tally for  some  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet,  the  quality  improved, 


146  DOWN  AGAIN  TO  KONGONE.  Chap.  VI. 

and  it  gave  good  steam.  The  imbedded  roots  of  plants  showed 
it  to  be  of  old  formation.  It  lies  nnder  a  coarse  grey  sandstone, 
which  often  has  the  ripple  mark,  and  impressions  of  plants  and 
silicified  wood  on  its  surface.  Gold  also  is  found  in  many  of 
the  streams  on  the  south  of  Tette ;  but  so  long  as  slavery 
maintains  its  sway,  the  coal  and  gold  will  be  kept  unworked, 
and  safe  for  future  generations. 

Learning  that  it  would  be  difficult  for  our  party  to  obtain 
food  beyond  Kebrabasa  before  the  new  crop  came  in,  and 
knowing  the  difficulty  of  hunting  for  so  many  men  in  the 
wet  season,  we  decided  on  deferring  our  departure  for  the 
interior  until  May,  and  in  the  mean  time  to  run  down  once 
more  to  the  Kongone,  in  the  hopes  of  receiving  letters  and  de- 
spatches from  the  man-of-war  that  was  to  call  in  March.  We 
left  Tette  on  the  10th,  and  at  Senna  heard  that  our  lost  mail 
had  been  picked  up  on  the  beach  by  natives,  west  of  the 
Milfiumbe;  carried  to  Quillimane;  sent  thence  to  Senna; 
and,  passing  us  somewhere  on  the  river,  on  to  Tette.  At 
Shupanga  the  Governor  informed  us  that  it  was  a  very  large 
mail ;  no  great  comfort,  seeing  it  was  away  up  the  river. 

Mosquitoes  were  excessively  troublesome  at  the  harbour, 
and  especially  when  a  L'ght  breeze  blew  from  the  north  over 
the  mangroves.  We  lived  for  several  weeks  in  small  huts, 
built  by  our  men.  Those  who  did  the  hunting  for  the  party 
always  got  wet,  and  were  attacked  by  fever,  but  generally 
recovered  in  time  to  be  out  again  before  the  meat  was  all 
consumed.  No  ship  appearing,  we  started  off  on  the  15th  of 
March,  and  stopped  to  wood  on  the  Luabo,  near  an  encamp- 
ment of  hippopotamus  hunters ;  our  men  heard  again,  through 
them,  of  the  canoe  path  from  this  place  to  Quillimane,  but 
they  declined  to  point  it  out.  The  Governor  of  Quillimane 
had  already  complained  that  the  Portuguese  of  his  district 


Chap.  VI.       PRETENSIONS  OF  THE  PORTUGUESE.  147 

keep  it  secret  for  slaying  purposes,  and  refused  to  show  it,  even 
to  him.  Masakasa  felt  confident  that  he  could  get  it  out  of 
these  hunters  by  his  diplomacy,  and  said  that  a  soft  tongue 
would  eat  them  up,  whilst  a  hard  one  would  drive  them 
off;  but  they  all  left  during  the  night  We  subsequently 
ascertained  that  the  entrance  to  it  is  by  a  natural  opening 
called  Kushishone,  between  two  and  three  miles  above  the 
Kongone  canal,  but  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  Zambesi. 
It  is  however  of  no  importance,  as  it  is  at  times  capable  of 
passing  only  small  canoes. 

The  Portuguese  Government  in  Lisbon  have  since  striven 
with  amusing  earnestness  to  prove  that  these  parts  were 
long  ago  well  known  to  them.  To  the  rest  of  the  world 
this  is  a  matter  of  perfect  indifference.  We  had  to  discover, 
or  at  least  to  rediscover,  them  for  ourselves ;  and  consider- 
ing the  perfect  knowledge  possessed  by  that  ministry,  it  is 
odd  that  none  of  their  information  accompanied  the  orders 
to  the  officials  in  Africa.  The  Governor  of  Quillimane  had 
orders  to  examine  the  Kongone,  but  frankly  confessed  he  did 
not  know  where  that  harbour  lay.  Our  friend  Major  Sicard, 
after  receiving  the  assurance  from  us  that  no  Zulus  could 
cross  the  creeks  around  it,  with  sly  foresight  resolved  to 
gain  possession  of  a  large  slice  of  the  soil  for  himself,  and 
sent  slares  to  make  a  garden,  and  build  him  a  house  at 
£ongone,  which  gives  the  harbour  its  value.  They  exe- 
cuted their  orders  at  a  point  some  twenty  miles  off;  not 
knowing  that  we  had  taken  the  name  from  the  side  of  the 
natural  canal  between  the  Kongone  branch  and  the  Zam- 
besL  We  could  see  plainly,  that  we  and  our  Portuguese 
friends  had  different  ranges  of  vision.  We  looked  for  the 
large  result  of  benefit  to  all,  both  white  and  black,  by 
establishing  free  commercial  intercourse.    They  could  see 

L  2 


148  MAJOR  &ICARD  AT  MAZABO.  Chap.  VL 

nothing  beyond  our  inducing  English  merchants  to  establish 
a  company,  of  which  the  Portuguese  would,  by  fictitious 
claims,  reap  all  the  benefit.  The  shorlrsighted  "  dog  in  the 
manger"  policy  was  so  transparent  that  we  always  warned 
our  commercial  friends  in  England  that,  without  free  naviga- 
tion of  the  Zambesi,  it  was  in  vain  for  them  to  run  any  risk. 
Nothing  but  slaving  will  on  any  account  be  tolerated.  W. 
Sunley,  Esq.,  of  Johanna,  on  the  recommendation  of  the  late 
Admiral  Wyvil,  took  a  cargo  of  goods  to  the  River  Angonsh, 
or  Angoxe,  in  order  to  begin  a  legal  traffic  with  the  natives. 
He  succeeded  as  well  as  he  expected.  He  was  then  inveigled 
on  false  pretences,  by  two  Portuguese  officials,  to  Mosambique; 
and,  as  soon  as  he  came  under  the  guns  of  the  fort,  he  was 
declared  a  prisoner,  and  his  cargo  and  ship  confiscated,  for 
"illegal  traffic  in  Portuguese  territory."  Had  he  been  a 
slaver,  without  doubt,  a  little  head-money  would  have  secured 
him  lodging  and  a  feast  in  the  Govemor-General's  palace 
instead. 

We  found  our  friend  Major  Sicard  at  Mazaro  with  picks, 
shovels,  hurdles,  and  slaves,  having  come  to  build  a  fort  and 
custom-house  at  the  Kongone.  As  we  had  no  good  reason  to 
hide  the  harbour,  but  many  for  its  being  made  known,  we  sup- 
plied him  with  a  chart  of  the  tortuous  branches,  which,  running 
among  the  mangroves,  perplex  the  search;  and  with  such 
directions  as  would  enable  him  to  find  his  way  down  to  the 
river.  He  had  brought  the  relics  of  our  fugitive  mail,  and  it 
was  a  disappointment  to  find  that  all  had  been  lost,  with  the 
exception  of  a  bundle  of  old  newspapers,  two  photographs,  and 
three  letters  which  had  been  written  before  we  left  England. 

Sininyane  had  exchanged  names  with  a  Zulu  at  Shupanga, 
and  on  being  called  next  morning  made  no  answer;  to  a 
second  and  third  summons  he  paid  no  attention;    but  at 


€hap.  VI.  CHANGE  OF  NAMES.  149 

length  one  of  his  men  replied,  "  He  is  not  Sininyane  now,  he 
is  Moshoshoma;"  and  to  this  name  he  answered  promptly. 
The  custom  of  exchanging  names  with  men  of  other  tribes, 
is  not  uncommon ;  and  the  exchangers  regard  themselves  as 
close  comrades,  owing  special  duties  to  each  other  ever  after. 
Should  one  by  chance  visit  his  comrade's  town,  he  expects  to 
receive  food,  lodging,  and  other  friendly  ofiRces  from  him. 
While  Charles  Livingstone  was  at  Kebrabasa  during  the 
rainy  season,  a  hungry,  shivering  native  traveller  was  made 
a  comrade  for  life,  not  by  exchanging  names,  but  by  some 
food  and  a  small  piece  of  cloth.  Eighteen  months  afl^r, 
while  on  our  journey  into  the  interior,  a  man  came  into 
our  camp,  bringing  a  liberal  present  of  rice,  meal,  beer, 
and  a  fowl,  and  reminding  us  of  what  had  been  done  for 
him  (which  Charles  Livingstone  had  entirely  forgotten),  said 
that  now  seeing  us  travelling  he  "did  not  like  us  to  sleep 
hungry  or  thirsty."  Several  of  our  men,  like  some  people 
at  home,  dropped  their  own  names  and  adopted  those  of 
the  Chiefs ;  others  were  a  little  in  advance  of  those  who 
take  the  surnames  of  higher  people,  for  they  took  those  of 
the  moimtains,  or  cataracts  we  had  seen  on  our  travels. 
We  had  a  Cbibisa,  a  Morambala,  a  Zomba,  and  a  Kebrabasa, 
and  they  were  called  by  these  names  even  after  they  had 
returned  to  their  own  country. 

We  had  been  so  much  hindered  and  annoyed  by  the  "  Ma 
Robert,"  alias  ''Asthmatic,"  that  the  reader,  though  a  tithe 
is  not  mentioned,  may  think  we  have  said  more  than  enough. 
The  man,  who  had  been  the  chief  means  of  imposing  this 
wretched  craft  on  us,  had  passed  away,  and  with  him  all 
bitterness  from  our  hearts.  We  felt  it  to  be  a  sad  pity, 
however,  that  any  one,  for  unfair  gain,  should  do  deeds 
which  cannot  be  spoken  of  after  he  is  gone.    We  had  still 


150  COMICAL  CREATURES.  Chap.  VL 

our  much-esteemed  and  noble-hearted  friend,  the  late  Ad- 
miral Washington^  at  home  to  see  that  we  did  not  again 
suffer ;  but  the  prospect  of  effecting  a  grand  work  on  Lake 
Nyassa,  by  means  of  a  steamer,  made  to  be  unscrewed  and 
carried  past  the  cataracts,  was  so  fair, — ^indeed  it  promised,  if 
carried  out,  so  entirely  to  change  the  wretched  system,  which 
has  been  the  bane  of  the  country  for  ages, — ^that  to  have 
the  vessel  properly  constructed  we  sent  Mr.  Eae,  the  engineer, 
home  to  superintend  its  construction.  He  could  be  of  no 
further  use  in  the  "  Asthmatic,"  as  she  was  utterly  beyond 
cure.  We  sent  also  five  boxes  of  specimens,  ccurefully  col- 
lected and  prepared  by  Dr.  Kirk ;  four  of  them,  to  our  very 
great  sorrow  and  loss,  never  arrived  at  the  Grardens  at 
Kew.  We  all  accompanied  our  engineer  on  foot  to  a 
small  stream  that  runs  into  the  Ewakwa,  or  river  of  Quil- 
limane,  on  his  way  to  that  port  to  embark  for  England. 

The  distance  from  Mazaro,  on  the  Zambesi  side,  to 
the  Kwakwa  at  Nterra,  is  about  six  miles,  over  a  sur- 
prisingly rich  dark  soiL  We  passed  the  night  in  the 
long  shed,  erected  at  Nterra,  on  the  banks  of  this  river,  for 
the  use  of  travellers,  who  have  often  to  wait  several  days 
for  canoes;  we  tried  to  sleep,  but  the  mosquitoes  and  rats 
were  so  troublesome  as  to  render  sleep  impossible.  The 
rats,  or  rather  large  mice,  closely  resembling  Mus  pumUio 
(Smith),  of  this  region,  are  quite  facetious,  and,  having  a  great 
deal  of  fun  in  them,  often  laugh  heartily.  Again  and  again 
they  woke  us  up  by  scampering  over  our  faces,  and  then 
bursting  into  a  loud  laugh  of  He !  he !  he !  at  having  per- 
formed the  feat.  Their  sense  of  the  ludicrous  appears  to 
be  exquisite ;  they  screamed  with  laughter  at  the  attempts, 
which  disturbed  and  angry  human  nature  made  in  the  dark 
to  bring  their  ill-timed  merriment  to  a  close.    Unlike  their 


Chap.  VI.  SCORPIONS— CENTIPEDES.  151 

prudent  European  cousins,  which  are  said  to  leave  a  sinking 
ship,  a  party  of  these  took  up  their  quartera  in  our  leaky 
and  sinking  vessel  Quiet  and  invisible  by  day,  they  emerged 
at  nighty  and  cut  their  funny  pranks.  No  sooner  were  we  all 
asleep,  than  they  made  a  sudden  dash  over  the  lockers  and 
across  our  faces  for  the  cabin  door,  where  all  broke  out  into 
a  loud  He  I  he !  he !  he !  he !  he !  showing  how  keenly  they 
enjoyed  the  joke.  They  next  went  forward  with  as  much 
delight,  and  scampered  over  the  men.  Every  night  they  went 
fore  and  aft,  rousing  with  impartial  feet  every  sleeper,  and 
laughing  to  scorn  the  aimless  blows,  growls,  and  deadly  rushes 
of  outraged  humanity.  We  observed  elsewhere,  a  species  of 
large  mouse,  nearly  allied  to  EuryotU  unisuicattu  (F.  Cuvier), 
scaping  up  a  rough  and  not  very  upright  wall,  with  six  young 
ones  firmly  attached  to  the  perineum.  They  were  old  enough 
to  be  well  covered  with  hair,  and  some  were  not  detached  by 
a  blow  which  disabled  the  dam.  We  could  not  decide  whether 
any  involuntary  muscles  were  brought  into  play,  in  helping 
the  young  to  adhere.  Their  weight  seemed  to  require  a  sort 
of  cataleptic  state  of  the  muscles  of  the  jaw,  to  enable  them 
to  hold  on. 

Scorpions,  centipedes,  and  poisonous  spiders  also,  were  not 
unfrequently  brought  into  the  ship  with  the  wood,  and  oc- 
casionally found  their  way  into  our  beds;  but,  ia  every 
instance,  we  were  fortunate  enough  to  discover  and  destroy 
them,  before  they  did  any  harm.  Naval  officers  on  this  coast 
report,  that  when  scorpions  and  centipedes  remain  a  few 
weeks  after  being  taken  on  board  in  a  similar  manner,  their 
poison  loses  nearly  all  its  virulence,  but  this  we  did  not  verify. 
Snakes  sometimes  came  in  with  the  wood,  but  oftener  floated 
down  the  river  to  us,  climbing  on  board  with  ease  by  the 
cimin-cable,  and  some  poisonous  ones  were  caught  in  the 


152  ANNUAL  TRIBUTE  TO  ZULUS.  Chap.  VI. 

cabin.  A  green  snake  lived  with  us  several  weeks,  con- 
cealing himself  behind  the  casing  of  the  deckhouse  in  the 
daytima  To  be  aroused  in  the  dark  by  five  feet  of  cold 
green  snake  gliding  over  one's  face,  is  rather  unpleasant, 
however  rapid  the  movement  may  ba  Myriads  of  two 
varieties  of  cockroaches  infested  'the  vessel ;  they  not  only 
ate  round  the  roots  of  our  nails,  but  even  devoured  and 
defiled  our  food,  flannels,  and  boots;  vain  were  all  our 
efforts  to  extirpate  these  destructive  pests;  if  you  kill  one, 
say  the  sailors,  a  hundred  come  down  to  his  funeral !  In  the 
work  of  CJommodore  Owen  it  is  stated  that  cockroaches, 
pounded  into  a  paste,  form  a  powerful  carminative ;  this  has 
not  been  confirmed,  but  when  monkeys  are  fed  on  them  they 
are  sure  to  become  so  lean  as  to  suggest  the  idea,  that  for  fat 
people  a  course  of  cockroach  might  be  as  efficacious  as  a 
course  of  Banting. 

On  coming  to  Senna,  we  found  that  the  Zulus  had  arrived  in 
force  for  their  annual  tribute.  These  men  are  under  good  dis- 
cipline, and  never  steal  from  the  people.  The  tax  is  claimed  on 
the  ground  of  conquest,  the  Zulus  having  formerly  completely 
overcome  the  Senna  people,  and  chased  them  on  to' the  islands 
in  the  2iambesi.  Fifty-four  of  the  Portuguese  were  slain  on 
the  occasion,  and,  notwithstanding  the  mud  fort,  the  village 
has  never  recovered  its  former  power.  Fever  was  now  very 
prevalent,  and  most  of  the  Portuguese  Were  down  with  it. 
The  village  has  a  number  of  foul  pools,  filled  with  green,  fetid 
mud,  in  which  horrid  long-snouted  greyhound-shaped  pigs 
wallow  with  delight.  The  greater  part  of  the  space  enclosed 
in  the  stockade,  which  is  an  oblong  of  say  a  thousand  yards 
by  five  hundred,  is  covered  with  taU  indigo-plants,  cassia, 
and  bushes,  with  mounds  on  which  once  stood  churches  and 
monasteries.     The  air  is  not  allowed  free  circulation,  so  it 


Chap.  YI.  '  FEVER  PLANT.  163 

is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  men  suffer  from  fever.  The 
feeding  of  the  pigs  is  indescribably  shocking;  but  they  are  a 
favourite  food  themselves,  and  the  owners  may  be  heard, 
both  here  and  at  Tette,  recalling  them  from  their  wanderings, 
by  pet  names,  as  "  JoSLo,"  "  Manoel,"  "  kudia !  kudia !  (to 
eat,  to  eat),  Antonio ! "  We  saw  a  curious  variety,  which  had 
accidentally  appeared  among  these  otherwise  uninteresting 
brutes.  A  litter  was  beautifully  marked  with  yellowish  brown 
and  white  stripes  alternately,  and  the  bands,  about  an  inch 
broad,  were  disposed,  not  as  in  the  zebra,  but  horizontally 
along  the  body.  Stripes  appear  occasionally  in  mules  and 
in  horses,  and  are  supposed  to  show  a  reversion  to  the 
original  wild  type,  in  the  same  way  that  highly-bred  domestic 
pigeons  sometimes  manifest  a  tendency  to  revert  to  the 
plumage  of  the  rock-pigeon,  with  its  black  bar  across  the  taiL 
This  striped  variety  may  betoken  relationship  to  the  original 
wild  pig,  the  young  of  which  are  distinctly  banded,  though 
the  marks  £Etde  as  the  animal  grows  up. 

For  a  good  view  of  the  adjacent  scenery,  the  hill,  Bara- 
muana,  behind  the  village,  was  ascended.  A  caution  was 
given  about  the  probability  of  an  attack  of  fever  fix)m 
a  plant  that  grows  near  the  summit  Dr.  Eirk  discovered 
it  to  be  the  Pcedevia  foetida^  which,  when  smelt,  actually 
<loes  give  headache  and  fever.  It  has  a  nasty  fetor, 
as  its  name  indicates.  This  is  one  instance  in  which  fever 
and  a  foul  smell  coincide.  In  a  number  of  instances  offen- 
sive eflfluvia  and  fever  seem  to  have  no  connexion.  Owing 
to  the  abimdant  rains,  the  crops  in  the  Senna  district  were 
plentiful ;  this  was  fortunate,  after  the  partial  failure  of  the 
past  two  years.  It  was  the  25th  of  April,  1860,  before  we 
reached  Tette ;  here  also  the  crops  were  luxuriant,  and  the 
people  said  thait  they  had  not  had  such  abundance  since  1856, 


154  WAKT  OF  IRRIGATION.  Chap.  VL 

the  year  when  Dr.  Livingstone  came  down  the  river.  It  ifr 
astonishing  to  any  one  who  has  seen  the  works  for  irrigation 
in  other  countries,  as  at  the  Cape  and  in  Egypt,  that  no* 
attempt  has  ever  been  made  to  lead  ont  the  water  either  of  the 
Zambesi  or  any  of  its  tributaries ;  no  machinery  has  ever  been 
used  to  raise  it  even  from  the  stream,  but  droughts  and  star- 
vation are  endured,  as  if  they  were  inevitable  dispensations  of 
Providence,  incapable  of  being  mitigated.  Our  friends  at 
Tette,  though  heedless  of  the  obvious  advantages  which  other 
nations  would  eagerly  seize,  have  beaten  the  entire  world  in  one 
branch  of  industry.  It  is  a  sort  of  anomaly  that  the  animal, 
most  nearly  allied  to  man  in  structure  and  function,  should  be 
the  most  alien  to  him  in  respect  to  labour,  or  trusty  friendship ; 
but  here  the  genius  of  the  monkey  is  turned  to  good  account 
He  is  made  to  work  in  the  chase  of  certain  ^'  wingless  insects 
better  known  than  respected."  Having  been  invited  to 
witness  this  branch  of  Tette  industry,  we  can  testify  that  the 
monkey  took  to  it  kindly,  and  it  seemed  profitable  to  both 
parties. 


Chap.  VII.  SAILOR'S  GARDEN.  155 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Prepare  for  a  journey  to  the  Makololo  oountry  —  Sailom*  garden  —  Wlicat, 
time  and  mode  of  sowing  —  Start  from  Tette  May  15tb,  to  take  the  Makololo 
homo — Lnkewammess  and  desertions — Evil  effects  of  contact  with  slaTes 
—  Man  lion  and  lion  man — Seasoning  with  a  lion  —  Popular  belief — New 
path  through  Kebrabosa  hills — Sandia — Elephant-hunt— Game  law  — 
A  feast  of  elephant-meat  —  We  strike  Zambesi  by  Morumbwa,  and  completo 
the  survey  of  Kebrabasa  from  end  to  end  —  Banyai  again — View  of 
Kebrabasa — Ghicova  plains  and  open  riyer — Sandia's  report  of  Kebrabasa. 

Feeling  in  honour  bound  to  return  with  those  who  had  been 
the  £uthful  companions  of  Dr.  Liyingstoney  in  1856,  and  to 
whose  guardianship  and  services  was  due  the  accomplishment 
of  a  journey  which  all  the  Portuguese  at  Tette  had  previously 
pronounced  impossible,  the  requisite  steps  were  taken  to 
convey  them  to  their  homes. 

We  laid  the  ship  alongside  of  the  island  Eanyimbe,  opposite 
Tette ;  and,  before  starting  for  the  country  of  the  Makololo, 
obtained  a  small  plot  of  land,  to  form  a  garden  for  the 
two  English  sailors  who  were  to  remain  in  charge  during 
our  absence.  We  furnished  them  with  a  supply  of  seeds, 
and  they  s5t  to  work  with  such  zeal,  that  they  cer- 
tainly merited  success.  Their  first  attempt  at  African 
horticulture  met  with  failure  from  a  most  unexpected  source; 
every  seed  was  dug  up  and  the  inside  of  it  eaten  by 
mice.  **  Yes,"  said  an  old  native,  next  morning,  on  seeing 
the  husks,  "  that  is  what  happens  this  month ;  for  it  is  tlie 
mouse  month,  and  the  seed  should  have  been  sown  last  month, 
when  I  sowed  mine."  The  sailors,  however,  sowed  more 
next  day;  and,  being  determined  to  outwit  the  mice,  they 


156  PREPARE  FOR  A  JOURNEY.  Chap.  VH. 

this  time  coyered  the  beds  over  with  grass.  The  onions,  unth 
other  seeds  of  plants  cultivated  by  the  Portuguese^  are  usually 
planted  in  the  beginning  of  April,  in  order  to  have  the 
advantage  of  the  cold  season ;  the  wheat  a  little  later,  for 
the  same  reason.  If  sown  at  the  beginning  of  the  rainy 
season  in  November,  it  runs,  as  before  remarked,  entirely  to 
straw ;  but,  as  the  rains  are  nearly  over  in  May,  advantage  is 
taken  of  low-lpng  patches,  which  have  been  flooded  by  the 
river.  A  hole  is  made  in  the  mud  with  a  hoe,  a  few  seeds 
dropped  in,  and  the  earth  shoved  back  with  the  foot  K  not 
favoured  with  certain  misty  showers,  which,  lower  down  the 
river,  are  simply  fogs,  water  is  borne  from  the  river  to  the  roots 
of  the  wheat  in  earthen  pots ;  and,  in  about  four  months,  the 
crop  is  ready  for  the  sickle.  The  wheat  of  Tette  is  exported, 
as  the  best  grown  in  the  country ;  but  a  hollow  spot  at  Maruru, 
close  by  Mazaro,  yielded  very  good  crops,  though  just  at  the 
level  of  the  sea,  as  a  few  inches  rise  of  tide  shows. 

A  number  of  days  were  spent  in  busy  preparation  for  our 
journey ;  the  cloth,  beads,  and  brass  wire,  for  the  trip,  were 
sewn  up  in  old  canvass,  and  each  package  had  the  bearer's 
name  printed  on  it.  The  Makololo,  who  had  worked  for  the 
Expedition,  were  paid  for  their  services,  and  every  one  who 
had  come  down  with  the  Doctor  from  the  interior  received 
a  present  of  cloth  and  ornaments,  in  order  to  protect 
them  from  the  greater  cold  of  their  own  country,  and 
to  show  that  they  had  not  come  in  vain.  Though  called 
Makololo  by  courtesy,  as  they  were  proud  of  the  name,  Ean- 
yata,  the  principal  headman,  was  the  only  real  Makololo 
of  the  party ;  and  he,  in  virtue  of  his  birth,  had  succeeded 
to  the  chief  place  on  the  death  of  Sekwebu.  The  others  be- 
longed to  the  conquered  tribes  of  the  Batoka,  Bashubia,  Ba- 
Selea,  and  Barotse.    Some  of  these  men  had  only  added  to 


Chap.  VIL  START  FBOM  TETTE.  157 

their  own  yices  those  of  the  Tette  slayes ;  others,  by  toib'ng 
during  the  first  two  years  in  navigating  canoes,  and  hnnting 
elephants,  had  often  managed  to  save  a  little,  to  take  back  to 
their  own  country,  but  had  to  part  with  it  all  for  food  to  support 
the  rest  in  times  of  hunger,  and,  latterly,  had  fallen  into  the 
improvident  habits  of  slaves,  and  spent  their  surplus  earnings 
in  beer  and  agua  ardiente. 

Everything  being  ready  on  the  15th  of  May,  we  started 
at  2  P.M.  from  the  village  where  the  Makololo  had  dwelt. 
A    number    of   the    men    did   not  leave  with   the   good- 
will which  their  talk   for  months  before    had   led  us  to 
anticipate;     but    some    proceeded  upon    being    told   that 
they  were  not  compelled  to  go  unless  they  liked,  though 
others  altogether  declined  moving.      Many  had  taken  up 
with  slave-women,  whom  they  assisted  in  hoeing,  and  in  con- 
suming the  produce  of  their  gardens.    Some  fourteen  children 
had  been  bom  to  them;  and  in  consequence  of  now  having  no 
Chief  to  order  them,  or  to  claim  their  services,  they  thought 
that  they  were  about  as  well  ofif  as  they  had  been  in  their 
own  country.     They  knew  and  regretted  that  they  could 
call  neither  wives  nor  children  their  own ;  the  slave-owners 
claimed  the  whole ;  but  their  natural  affections  had  been  so 
enchained,  that  they  clave  to  the  domestic  ties.    By  a  law  of 
Portugal  the  baptized  children  of  slave  women  are  all  free ;  by 
the  custom  of  the  Zambesi  that  law  is  void.    When  it  is  re- 
ferred to,  the  officers  laugh  and  say,  ''These  Lisbon-bom  laws 
are  very  stringent,  but  somehow,  possibly  from  the  heat  of  the 
climate,  here  they  lose  all  their  force."    Only  one  woman 
joined  our  party — ^the  wife  of  a  Batoka  man :  she  had  been 
given  to  him,  in  consideration  of  his  skilful  dancing,  by 
the  chief,  Cbisaka.    A  merchant  sent  three  of  his  men  along 
with  us,  with  a  present  for  Sekeletu,  and  Major  Sicard  also  lent 


158  LUKEWARMNESS  AND  DESERTIONS.        Chap.  VU. 

T3S  three  more  to  assist  us  on  our  return,  and  two  Portuguese 
gentlemen  kindly  gave  us  the  loan  of  a  couple  of  donkeys. 
We  slept  four  miles  above  Tette,  and  hearing  that  the 
Banyai,  who  levy  heavy  fines  on  the  Portuguese  traders,  lived 
chiefly  on  the  right  bank,  we  crossed  over  to  the  left,  as  we 
could  not  fully  trust  our  men.  If  the  Banyai  had  come 
in  a  threatening  manner,  our  followers  might  perhaps,  from 
having  homes  behind  them,  have  even  put  down  their  bundles 
and  run.  Indeed  two  of  them,  at  this  point,  made  up  their 
minds  to  go  no  further,  and  turned  back  to  Tette.  Another, 
Monga,  a  Batoka,  was  much  perplexed,  and  could  not  make 
out  what  course  to  pursue,  as  he  had,  three  years  previously, 
wounded  Eanyata,  the  headman,  >vith  a  spear.  This  is  a  capital 
offence  among  the  Makololo,  and  he  was  afraid  of  being  put 
to  death  for  it  on  his  return.  He  tried,  in  vain,  to  console 
himself  with  the  facts  that  he  had  neither  father,  mother, 
sisters,  nor  brothers,  to  mourn  for  him,  and  that  he  could  die 
but  once.  He  was  good,  and  would  go  up  to  the  stars  to  Tesu, 
and,  therefore,  did  not  care  for  death.  In  spite,  however,  of 
these  reflections,  he  was  much  cast  down,  until  Kanyata  assured 
him  that  he  would  never  mention  his  misdeed  to  the  Chief ; 
indeed,  he  had  never  even  mentioned  it  to  the  Doctor,  which 
he  would  assuredly  have  done,  had  it  lain  heavy  on  his  heart 
We  were  right  glad  of  Monga's  company,  for  he  was  a  merry 
good-tempered  fellow,  and  his  lithe  manly  figure  had  always 
been  in  the  front  in  danger;  and,  from  being  left-handed, 
had  been  easily  recognised  in  the  fight  with  elephants. 

We  commenced,  for  a  certain  number  of  days,  with  short 
marches,  walking  gently  until  broken  in  to  travel.  This  is  of  so 
much  importance  that  it  occurs  to  us  that  more  might  be  made 
out  of  soldiers  if  the  first  few  days'  marches  were  easy,  and 
gradually  increased  in  length  and  quickness.    The  nights  were 


€hap.  Vir.  MAN  LION.  159 

cold,  with  heavy  dews  and  occasional  showers,  and  we  had 
several  cases  of  fever.  Some  of  the  men  deserted  every  night, 
and  we  folly  expected  that  all  who  had  children  wonld  prefer 
to  return  to  Tette,  for  little  ones  are  well  known  to  prove  the 
strongest  ties,  even  to  slaves.  It  was  useless  informing  them, 
that  if  they  wanted  to  return  they  had  only  to  come  and  tell 
us  so ;  we  should  not  be  angry  with  them  for  preferring  Tette 
to  their  own  country.  Contact  with  slaves  had  destroyed  their 
sense  of  honour,  they  would  not  go  in  daylight,  but  de- 
camped in  the  night,  only  in  one  instance,  however,  taking 
our  goods,  though,  in  two  more,  they  carried  off  their 
comrades*  property.  By  the  time  we  had  got  well  into  the 
Kebrabasa  hills,  thirty  men,  nearly  a  third  of  the  party,  had 
turned  back,  and  it  became  evident  that,  if  many  more  left 
us,  Sekeletu's  goods  could  not  be  carried  up.  At  last,  when 
the  refuse  had  fallen  away,  no  more  desertions  took  place. 

Stopping  one  afternoon  at  a  Kebrabasa  village,  a  man, 
who  pretended  to  be  able  to  change  himself  into  a  lion,  came 
to  salute  us.  Smelling  the  gunpowder  from  a  gun  which 
had  been  discharged,  he  went  on  one  side  to  get  out  of 
the  wind  of  the  piece,  trembling  in  a  most  artistic  manner, 
but  quite  overacting  his  part.  The  Makololo  explained  to 
us  that  he  was  a  Pondoro,  or  a  tnan  who  can  change  his 
form  at  will,  and  added  that  he  trembles  when  he  smells 
gunpowder.  "  Do  you  not  see  how  he  is  trembling  now  ?  " 
We  told  them  to  ask  him  to  change  himself  at  once  into  a 
lion,  and  we  would  give  him  a  cloth  for  the  performance. 
*'  Oh,  no,"  replied  they ; "  if  we  tell  him  so,  he  may  change  him- 
self and  come  when  we  are  asleep  and  kill  us."  Having  similar 
superstitions  at  home,  they  readily  became  as  firm  believers 
in  the  Pondoro  as  the  natives  of  the  village.  We  were  told 
that  he  assumes  the  form  of  a  lion  and  remains  in  the  woods 


160  POPULAR  BEUEF.  Chap.  VIL 

for  days,  and  is  sometimes  absent  for  a  whole  month.  His 
considerate  wife  had  built  him'  a  hut  or  den,  in  which  she 
places  food  and  beer  for  her  transformed  lord,  whose  metamor- 
phosis does  not  impair  his  human  appetite.  No  one  ever 
enters  this  hut  except  the  Pondoro  and  his  wife,  and  no 
stranger  is  allowed  even  to  rest  his  gun  against  the  Baobab- 
tree  beside  it:  the  Mfumo,  or  petty  Chief,  of  another 
small  village  wished  to  fine  our  men  for  placing  their 
muskets  against  an  old  tumble-down  hut,  it  being  that 
of  the  Pondoro.  At  times  the  Pondoro  employs  his  acquired 
powers  in  hunting  for  the  benefit  of  the  village ;  and,  after  an 
absence  of  a  day  or  two,  his  wife  smells  the  lion,  takes  a  certain 
medicine,  places  it  in  the  forest^  and  there  quickly  leaves  it, 
lest  the  lion  should  kill  even  her.  This  medicine  enables  the 
Pondoro  to  change  himself  back  into  a  man,  return  to  the 
village^  and  say  ^'  Go  and  get  the  game  that  I  have  killed 
for  you,'*  Advantage  is  of  course  taken  of  what  a  lion  has 
done,  and  they  go  and  bring  home  the  bufialo  or  antelope 
killed  when  he  was  a  lion,  or  rather  found  when  he  was 
patiently  pursuing  his  course  of  deception  in  the  forest  We 
saw  the  Pondoro  of  another  village  dressed  in  a  fantastic 
style,  with  numerous  charms  hung  round  him,  and  followed 
by  a  troop  of  boys  who  were  honouring  him  with  rounds 
of  shrill  cheering. 

It  is  believed  also  that  the  souls  of  departed  Chiefs 
enter  into  lions  and  render  them  sacred.  On  one  occasion, 
when  we  had  shot  a  bufialo  in  the  path  beyond  the  Eafue, 
a  hungry  lion,  attracted  probably  by  the  smell  of  the 
meat,  came  dose  to  our  camp,  and  roused  up  all  hands  by  his 
roaring.  Tuba  Mokoro,  imbued  with  the  popular  belief  that  the 
beast  was  a  Chief  in  disguise,  scolded  him  roundly  during  his 
brief  intervals  of  silence.    "  You  a  Chief,  eh  ?    You  call  your- 


Chap.  YII.  KEASONING  WITH  A  LIOX.  161 

self  a  Chief,  do  you  ?  What  kind  of  Chief  are  you  to  come 
sneaking  about  in  the  dark,  trying  to  steal  our  buffalo 
meat!  Are  you  not  ashamed  of  yourself?  A  pretty  Chief 
truly ;  you  are  like  the  scavenger  beetle,  and  tliink  of  your- 
self only.  You  have  not  the  heart  of  a  Chief;  why  don't  you 
kill  your  own  beef?  You  must  have  a  stone  in  your  chest, 
and  no  heart  at  all,  indeed ! "  Tuba  Mokoro  producing  no 
impression  on  the  transformed  Chief,  one  of  the  men,  the  most 
sedate  of  the  party,  wlio  seldom  spoke,  took  up  the  matter, 
and  tried  the  lion  in  another  strain.  In  his  slow  quiet  way 
he  expostulated  with  him  on  the  impropriety  of  such  conduct 
to  strangers,  who  had  never  injured  him.  "  We  were  travelling 
peaceably  through  the  country  back  to  our  o^vn  Chief.  We 
never  killed  people,  nor  stole  anything.  The  buffalo  meat 
was  ours,  not  his,  and  it  did  not  become  a  great  Cliief  like 
him  to  be  prowling  round  in  the  dark,  trying,  like  a  hyena, 
to  steal  the  meat  of  strangers.  He  might  go  and  hunt  for 
himself,  as  there  was  plenty  of  game  in  the  forest."  The 
Pondoro,  being  deaf  to  reason,  and  only  roaring  the  louder,  the 
men  became  angry,  and  threatened  to  send  a  ball  through  him 
if  he  did  not  go  away.  They  snatched  up  their  guns  to  shoot 
him,  but  he  prudently  kept  in  the  dark,  outside  of  the  lumi- 
nous circle  made  by  om*  camp  fires,  and  there  they  did  not 
like  to  venture.  A  little  strychnine  was  put  into  a  piece  of 
meat,  and  thrown  to  him,  when  he  soon  departed,  and  we 
heard  no  more  of  the  majestic  sneaker. 

The  Kebrabasa  people  were  now  plumper  and  in  better 
condition  than  on  our  former  visits ;  the  harvest  had  been 
abundant ;  they  had  plenty  to  eat  and  drink,  and  they  were 
enjoying  life  as  much  as  ever  they  could.  At  Defwe's 
village,  near  where  the  ship  lay  on  her  first  ascent,  we  found 
two  Mfmnos  or  headmen,  the  son  and  son-in-law  of  the  former 


162  PATH  THROUGH  KEBRABASA  HILLS.        Chap.  VH. 

Chief.  A  sister's  son  has  much  more  chance  of  succeeding  to 
a  chieftainship  thftn  the  Chiefs  own  offspring,  it  being  un-  . 
questionable  that  the  sister's  child  has  the  family  blood.  The 
men  are  all  marked  across  the  nose  and  up  the  middle  of  the 
forehead,  with  short  horizontal  bars  or  cicatrices ;  and  a  single 
brass  earring  of  two  or  three  inches  diameter,  like  the  ancient 
Egyptia  is  worn  by  the  men.  Some  wear  the  hair  long 
like  the  ancient  Assyrians  and  Egyptians,  and  a  few  haye 
eyes  with  the  downward  and  inward  slant  of  the  Chinese. 

After  fording  the  rapid  Lnia,  we  left  onr  former  path  on 
the  banks  of  the  Zambesi,  and  struck  off  in  a  N.W.  direction 
behind  one  of  the  hill  ranges,  the  eastern  end  of  which  is  called 
Mongwa,  the  name  of  an  acacia,  having  a  peculiarly  strong 
fetor,  found  on  it.  Our  route  wound  up  a  valley  along  a  small 
mountain-stream  which  was  nearly  dry,  and  then  crossed  the 
rocky  spurs  of  some  of  the  lofty  hills.  The  country  was  all 
very  dry  at  the  time,  and  no  water  was  found  except  in  an  oc- 
casional spring  and  a  few  wells  dug  in  the  beds  of  water- 
courses. The  people  were  poor,  and  always  anxious  to  convince 
travellers  of  the  fact  The  men,  unlike  those  on  the  plains, 
spend  a  good  deal  of  their  time  in  hunting;  this  may  be 
because  they  have  but  little  ground  on  the  hill-sides  suitable 
for  gardens,  and  but  little  certainty  of  reaping  what  may  be 
sown  in  the  valleys.  No  women  came  forward  in  the  hamlet, 
east  of  Chiperiziwa,  where  we  halted  for  the  night.  Two  shots 
had  been  fired  at  guinea-fowl  a  little  way  off  in  the  valley ; 
the  women  fled  into  the  woods,  and  the  men  came  to. know  if 
war  was  meant,  and  a  few  of  the  old  folks  only  returned  after 
hearing  that  we  were  for  peace.  The  headman,  Eambiia, 
apologized  for  not  having  a  present  ready,  and  afterwards 
brought  us  some  meal,  a  roasted  coney  {Myrax  capensui)  and 
a  pot  of  beer ;  he  wished  to  be  thought  poor.    The  beer  had 


Chap.  VII.  LAST  OF  THE  DESERTERS.  163 

come  to  bim  ftom  a  distance;  he  bad  none  of  bis  own.  Like 
the  Manganja,  these  people  salute  by  clapping  their  hands. 
Whena  mad  comes  to  a  place  where  others  are  seated,  before 
sittiiig  down  he  claps  his  hands  to  each  in  saccession,  and  they 
do  the  same  to  him.  If  he  has  anything  to  tell,  both  speaker 
and  hearer  clap  their  hands  at  the  close  of  every  paragraph, 
and  then  again  yigorously  at  the  end  of  the  speech.  The 
guide,  whom  the  headman  gave  us,  thus  saluted  each  of  his 
conuades  before  he  started  off  with  us.  There  is  so  litde 
difference  in  the  language,  that  all  the  tribes  of  this  region 
are  Tirtnally  of  one  family. 

We  proceeded  still  in  the  same  direction,  and  passed 
only  two  small  hamlets  during  the  day.  Except  the  iK»se 
our  men  made  on  the  march,  everything  was  stUl  around  us : 
few  birds  were  seen.  The  appearance  of  a  whydah-bird 
showed  that  he  had  not  yet  parted  with  his  fine  Icmg  plumeB. 
We  passed  immense  quantities  of  ebony  and  lignum-iitse, 
and  the  tree  from  whose  smooth  and  bitter  bark  granarias 
are  made  for  corn.  The  country  generally  is  clothed  with  a 
foirest  of  ordinary-sized  trees.  We  slept  in  the  little  village 
near  Sindabwe,  where  our  men  contrived  to  purchase  plenty 
<^  beer,  and  were  unc(Mnmonly  boisterous  all  the  evening. 
We  Inreakfiasted  next  morning  under  green  wild  date- 
palms,  beside  the  fine  flowery  stream,  which  runs  through 
the  charming  valley  of  Zibah.  We  now  had  Mount  Chi- 
permwa  between  us,  and  part  of  the  river  near  Monmibwa, 
having  in  fact  come  north  about  in  order  to  avoid  the  diffi- 
cultly of  our  fcHrmer  path.  The  last  of  the  deserters,  a 
reputed  thief,  took  French  leave  of  us  here.  He  left  the 
bundle  of  cloth  he  was  carrying  in  the  path  a  hundred 
Yards  in  front  of  where  we  halted,  but  made  off  with  the 
musket  and  most  of  the  brass  rings  and  beads  of  bis  comrade 

H  2 


164  SANDIA.  Chap.  Yll. 

Shirimba,  who  had  unsuspectingly   intrusted  them   to  liis 
care. 

Proceeding  S.W.  up  this  lovely  valley,  in  about  an  hour's 
time  we  reached  Sandia's  village.  The  Chief  was  said  to 
be  absent  hunting,  and  they  did  not  know  when  he  would 
return.     This  is  such  a  common  answer  to  the  inquiry  after 

« 

a  headman,  that  one  is  inclined  to  think,  that  it  only  means 
that  they  wish  to  know  the  stranger  s  object,  before  exposing 
their  superior  to  danger.  As  some  of  our  men  were  ill,  a  halt 
was  made  here.  Sandia's  people  were  very  civil :  a  kinsman 
of  his  came  to  see  us  in  the  evening,  bringing  a  large  pot  of 
beer :  he  did  not  like  to  see  us  eating  with  nothing  to  drink, 
so  brought  it  as  a  present.  When  at  a  distance  fh)m  those 
who  are  engaged  in  the  slave-trade,  there  is  much  in  the 
manners  of  the  natives,  and  their  ways  of  speaking,  to  remind 
us  of  the  Patriarchs.  The  inhabitants  of  Zibah  are  Bad^ma, 
and  a  wealthier  class  than  those  we  have  recently  passed,  with 
more  cloth,  ornaments,  food  and  luxuries.  Fowls,  eggs, 
sugar-canes,  sweet-potatoes,  groimd-nuts,  turmeric,  tomatoes, 
chillies,  rice,  mapira  (holcus  sorghum),  and  maize,  were 
offered  for  sale  in  large  quantities.  The  mapira  may  be 
called  the  com  of  the  country.  It  is  known  as  Kaffir  and 
Guinea  com,  in  the  south  and  west ;  as  dura  in  Egypt,  and 
badjery  in  India ;  the  grain  is  round  and  white,  or  reddish- 
white,  about  the  size  of  the  hemp-seed  given  to  canaries. 
Several  hundred  grains  form  a  massive  ear,  on  a  stalk  as  thick 
as  an  ordinary  walking-staff,  and  from  eight  to  eighteen  feet 
high.  Tobacco,  hemp,  and  cotton  were  also  cultivated,  as, 
indeed,  they  are  by  all  the  people  in  Eebrabasa.  In  nearly 
every  village  here,  as  in  the  Manganja  hills,  men  are  engaged 
in  spinning  and  weaving  cotton  of  excellent  quality. 

As  we  were  unable  to  march  next  morning,  six  of  our  young 


Chap.  VII.  ELEPHANT-HUNT— GAME  LAW.  165 

men,  anxious  to  try  their  muskets,  went  off  to  hunt  elephants. 
For  several  hours  they  saw  nothing,  and  some  of  them,  getting 
tired,  proposed  to  go  to  a  village  and  buy  food.  "  No ! "  said 
Mantlanyane,  **  wo  came  to  hunt,  so  let  us  go  on."  In  a  short 
time  they  fell  in  with  a  herd  of  cow  elephants  and  calves.  As 
soon  as  the  first  cow  caught  sight  of  the  hunters  on  the  rocks 
above  her,  she,  with  true  motherly  instinct,  placed  her  young 
one  between  her  fore-legs  for  protection.  The  men  were 
for  scattering,  and  firing  into  the  herd  indiscriminately. 
"  That  won't  do,"  cried  Mantlanyane,  "  let  us  all  fire  at  this 
one."  Hie  poor  beast  received  a  volley,  and  ran  down  into 
the  plain,  where  another  shot  killed  her;  the  young  one 
escaped  with  the  herd.  The  men  were  wild  with  excitement, 
and  danced  round  the  fallen  queen  of  the  forest,  with  loud 
shouts  and  exultant  songs.  They  returned,  bearing  as 
trophies,  the  tail  and  part  of  the  trunk,  and  marched  into 
camp  as  erect  as  soldiers,  and  evidently  feeling  that  their 
stature  had  increased  considerably  since  the  morning. 

Sandia  s  wife  was  duly  informed  of  their  succeSvS,  as  here  a 
law  decrees  that  half  the  elephant  belongs  to  the  Cliiof  on 
whoso  ground  it  has  been  killed.  The  Portuguese  traders 
always  submit  to  this  tax,  and,  were  it  of  native  origin,  it 
could  hardly  be  considered  unjust.  A  Chief  must  have  some 
source  of  revenue ;  and,  as  many  Chiefs  can  raise  none  except 
from  ivory  or  slaves,  this  tax  is  more  free  fi-om  objections  than 
any  other  that  a  black  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  could 
devise.  It  seems,  however,  to  have  originated  with  the  Portu- 
guese themselves,  and  then  to  have  spread  among  the  adjacent 
tribes.  The  Governors  look  sharply  after  any  elephant  that 
may  be  slain  on  the  Crown  lands,  and  demand  one  of  the  tusks 
from  their  Tassals,  We  did  not  find  the  law  in  operation  in  any 
tribe  beyond  the  range  of  Portuguese  traders,  or  further  than 


166  CUTTING  UP  AN  ELEPHANT.  Chap.  VII. 

the  sphere  of  travel  of  those  Arabs  who  imitated  Portngoese 
customs  in  trade.  At  the  Kafae  in  1855  the  Chiefs  bought  the 
meat  we  killed,  and  demanded  nothing  as  their  due ;  and  so  it 
was  tip  the  Shire  dnring  our  visits.  The  slaves  of  the  Portu- 
gnese,  who  are  sent  by  their  masters  to  shoot  elephants,  pro- 
bably connive  at  the  extension  of  this  law,  (or  they  strive  to 
get  the  good  will  of  the  Chiefs  to  whose  country  they  come, 
by  advising  them  to  make  a  demand  of  half  of  each 
elephant  killed,  and  for  this  advice  they  are  well  paid  in 
beer.  When  we  found  that  the  Portuguese  argued  in  fiivour 
of  this  law,  we  told  the  natives  that  they  might  exact 
tusks  from  them^  but  that  the  English,  being  diflferent, 
preferred  the  pure  native  custom.  It  was  this  which  made 
Sandia,  as  afterwards  mentioned,  hesitate ;  but  we  did  not  care 
to  insist  on  exemption  in  our  favour,  where  the  prevalence  of 
the  custom  might  have  been  held  to  justify  the  exaction. 

Sandia's  wife  said  that  she  had  sent  a  messenger  to  ber 
husband  on  the  day  of  our  arrival,  and  soon  expected  his  return ; 
bnt  that  some  of  his  people  would  go  with  our  men  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  receive  what  we  chose  to  give.  We  accompanied  our 
hunters  across  the  hills  to  the  elephant  vale,  north  of  Zibah. 
It  was  a  beautiful  valley  covered  with  tall  heavy-seeded 
grass,  on  which  the  elephants  had  been  quietly  feeding  ^en 
attacked.  We  found  the  carcass  undisturbed,  an  enormous 
mass  of  meat. 

The  cutting  up  of  an  elephant  is  quite  a  unique  spec- 
tacle. The  men  stand  round  the  animal  in  dead  silence, 
while  the  chief  of  the  travelling  party  declares  that,  ac- 
cording to  ancient  law,  the  head  and  right  hind-leg  belong 
to  him  who  killed  the  beast,  that  is,  to  him  who  inflicted 
the  first  wound;  the  left  leg  to  him  who  delivered  the 
second,  or  first  touched  the  animal  after  it  fell.     The  meat 


Chap.  VIL  THE  IFE-PLANT.  167 

around  the  eye  to  tiie  English,  or  chief  of  the  travellers, 
and  different  parts  to  the  headmen  of  the  different  fires, 
or  groaps^  of  which  the  camp  is  composed ;  not  forgetting 
to  enjoin  the  preservation  of  the  fat  and  bowels  for  a  second 
distribution.  This  oration  finished,  the  natives  soon  become 
excited,  and  scream  wildly  as  they  cut  away  at  the  carcass 
with  a  score  of  spears,  whose  long  handles  quiver  in  the 
air  above  their  heads.  Their  excitement  becomes  momen- 
tarily more  and  more  intense,  and  reaches  the  culminating 
point  when,  as  denoted  bj  a  roar  of  gas,  the  huge  mass  ia 
laid  fairly  open.  Some  jump  inside,  and  roll  about  there  in 
their  eagerness  to  seize  the  precious  fat,  while  others  run  oS, 
screaming,  with  pieces  of  the  bloody  meat,  throw  it  on  the 
grass,  and  run  back  for  more :  all  keep  talking  and  shouting 
at  the  utmost  pitch  of  their  voices.  Sometimes  two  or  three, 
regardless  of  all  laws,  seize  the  same  piece  of  meat,  and  have 
a  brief  fight  of  words  over  it  Occasionally  an  agonized  yell 
bursts  forth,  and  a  native  emerges  out  of  the  moviog  mass  of 
dead  el^hant  and  wriggling  humanity,  with  his  hand  badly 
cut  by  the  spear  of  his  excited  Mend  and  neighbour :  this 
requires  a  rag  and  some  soothing  words  to  prevent  bad  blood. 
In  an  incredibly  short  time  tons  of  meat  are  cut  up,  and 
placed  in  separate  heaps  around. 

Sandia  arrived  soon  after  the  beast  was  divided :  he  is  an 
elderly  man,  and  wears  a  vng  made  of  ife  fibre  (sansevtera) 
dyed  black,  and  of  a  fine  glossy  appearance.  This  plant 
is  allied  to  ihe  aloes,  and  its  thick  fleshy  leaves,  in  shape 
somewhat  like  our  sedges,  when  bruised  yield  much  fine 
strong  fibre,  which  is  made  into  ropes,  nets,  and  wigs.  It  takes 
dyes  readily,  and  the  fibre  might  form  a  good  article  of  com- 
meax^e.  Ife  wigs,  as  we  afterwards  saw,  are  not  uncommon 
in  this  country,  though  perhaps  not  so  common  as  hair  wigs  at 


IGS  SANDIA  AND  HIS  CABINET.  Chap.  YII. 

home.  Sandia's  mosamela,  or  small  carved  wooden  pillow^ 
exactly  resembling  the  ancient  Egyptian  one,  was  hung  from 
the  back  of  his  neck ;  this  pillow  and  a  sleeping  mat  are 
usually  carried  by  natives  when  on  hunting  excursions.  The 
Chief  visited  the  different  camp-fires  of  our  men,  and  accepted 
presents  of  meat  from  them  ;  but  said  that  he  should  like  to 
consume  it  with  his  elders,  as  he  wished  to  consult  them 
whether  he  ought  to  receive  the  half  of  the  elephant  from  the 
Englishmen.  His  Cabinet,  seeing  no  good  reason  for  departing 
from  the  established  custom,  concluded  that  it  was  best  to  treat 
white  tax-payers  as  on  a  perfect  equality  with  black  ones,  and 
to  accept  the  half  which  belonged  to  Sandia's  Government  In 
the  afternoon  the  Chief  returned  with  his  counsellors,  accom- 
panied by  his  wife  and  seveml  other  women,  caiTying  five  pots 
of  beer :  three,  he  explained,  were  a  present  to  the  white  men, 
and  the  other  two  were  intended  for  sale.  The  women  have 
a  remarkably  erect  gait,  probably  from  having  been  accus- 
tomed from  infancy  to  carry  heavy  water-pots  on  their  heads. 
Tliis  brings  all  the  muscles  of  the  back  into  play,  and  might 
prove  beneficial  as  a  practice  to  those  who  are  troubled  with 
weakness  of  spine  among  ourselves.  They  use  a  piece  of 
wood  between  the  head  and  pot,  perhaps  for  elegance. 

AVc  had  the  elephant's  fore-foot  cooked  for  ourselves,  in 
native  fashion.  A  large  hole  was  dug  in  the  ground,  in 
which  a  fire  was  made  ;  and,  Avhen  the  inside  was  thoroughly 
heated,  the  entire  foot  was  placed  in  it,  and  covered  over 
with  the  hot  ashes  and  soil ;  another  fire  was  made  above  the 
whole,  and  kept  burning  all  night.  We  had  the  foot  thus 
cooked  for  breakfast  next  morning,  and  found  it  delicious.  It 
is  a  whitish  mass,  slightly  gelatinous,  and  sweet,  like  marrow. 
A  long  march,  to  prevent  biliousness,  is  a  wise  precaution 
after  a  meal  of  elephant's  foot.    Elephant's  trunk  and  tongue 


CuA?.  YII.  MODE  OF  MAKING  PORRIDGE.  10I> 

are  also  good,  and,  after  long  simmering,  much  resemble 
the  hump  of  a  buffalo,  and  the  tongue  of  an  ox ;  but  all  (In^ 
other  meat  is  tough,  and,  from  its  peculiar  flavour,  only  to  Ih> 
eaten  by  a  hungry  man.  The  quantities  of  meat  our  men 
devour  is  quite  astounding.  They  boil  as  much  as  their 
pots  will  hold,  and  eat  till  it  becomes  physically  impossible 
for  them  to  stow  away  any  more.  An  uproarious  danc(* 
follows,  accompanied  with  stentorian  song  ;  and  as  soon 
as  they  have  shaken  their  first  course  down,  and  washed  off 
the  sweat  and  dust  of  the  after  performance,  they  go  to  work 
to  roost  more :  a  short  snatch  of  sleep  succeeds,  and  they  an,* 
up  and  at  it  again ;  all  night  long  it  is  boil  and  eat,  roast  and 
devour,  with  a  few  brief  interludes  of  sleep.  Like  other  ear- 
nivora  these  men  can  endure  hunger  for  a  much  longer  period 
than  the  mere  porridge-eating  tribes.  Our  men  can  cook  meat 
as  well  as  any  reasonable  traveller  could  desire;  and,  boiled  in 
earthen  pots,  like  Indian  chatties,  it  tastes  much  better  than 
when  cooked  in  iron  ones. 

Their  porridge  is  a  failure,  at  least  for  a  Scotch  diges- 
tion that  has  been  impaired  by  fever,  When  on  a  journey, 
unaccompanied  by  women,  as  soon  as  the  water  is  hot, 
they  tumble  in  the  meal  by  handfuls  in  rapid  succession, 
until  it  becomes  too  thick  to  stir  about,  when  it  is 
whipped  off  the  fire,  and  placed  on  the  ground ;  an  assist- 
ant then  holds  the  pot,  whilst  the  cook,  grasping  the  sticlc 
Avith  both  hands,  exerts  his  utmost  strength  in  giving  it  a 
number  of  circular  tmnas,  to  mix  and  prevent  the  solid  mass 
from  being  burnt  by  the  heat.  It  is  then  served  up  to  us, 
the  cook  retaining  the  usual  perquisite  of  as  much  as  can  bo 
induced  to  adhere  to  the  stick,  whien  he  takes  it  from  the  pot. 
By  this  process,  the  meal  is  merely  moistened  and  warmed, 
but  not  boiled;   much  of  it  being  raw,  it   always   causes 


170        LEAVE  THE  ELEPHANT  VALLEY.    C^ap.  VIL 

heartburn.  This  is  the  only  mode  that  the  natives  have  of 
cooking  the  mapira  meal.  They  seldom,  if  ever,  bake  it  into 
cakes,  like  oatmeal ;  for,  thongh  finely  ground  and  beauti- 
fully white,  it  will  not  cohere  readily.  Maize  meal  is  formed 
into  dough  more  readily,  but  that  too  is  inferior  to  wheaten 
flour,  or  even  oatmeal,  for  baking.  It  was  rather  difficult  to 
persuade  the  men  to  boil  the  porridge  for  us  more  patiently; 
and  they  became  witty,  and  joked  us  for  being  like  women, 
when  the  weakness  of  fever  compelled  us  to  pay  some  attention 
to  the  cooking,  evidently  thinking  that  it  was  beneath  the 
dignity  of  white  men  to  stoop  to  such  matters.  They  look 
upon  the  meal  and  water  porridge  of  the  black  tribes  as  the 
English  used  to  do  upon  the  French  frogs,  and  call  the  eaters 
"  mere  water-porridge  fellows,"  while  the  Makololo's  meal  and 
milk  porridge  takes  the  character  of  English  roast-bee£ 

Sandia  gave  us  two  guides ;  and  on  the  4th  of  June  we 
left  the  Elephant  valley,  taking  a  westerly  course ;  and,  after 
crossing  a  few  ridges,  entered  the  Chingerere  or  Paguru- 
guru  valley,  through  which,  in  the  rainy  season,  i*uns  the 
streamlet  Pajodze.  The  mountains  on  our  left,  between 
us  and  the  Zambesi,  our  guides  told  us  have  the  same 
name  as  the  valley,  but  that  at  the  conflu^ice  of  the 
Pajodze  is  called  Morumbwa.  We  struck  the  river  at 
less  than  half  a  mile  to  the  north  of  the  cataract  Uo- 
rumbwa.  On  climbing  up  the  base  of  this  mountain  at 
Pajodze,  we  foimd  that  we  were  distant  only  the  diamet^ 
of  the  mountain  &om  the  cataract  In  measuring  the  cataract 
we  formerly  stood  on  its  southern  flank ;  now  we  were  perdied 
on  its  northern  flank,  and  at  once  recognised  the  onion- 
shaped  mountain,  here  called  Zakavuma,  whose  smooth  eon- 
vex  surface  overlooks  the  broken  water.  Its  bearing  by 
compass  was  180°  from  the  spot  to  which  we  had  climbed 


Chap.  VII.  A  BANYAI  HEADMAN'S  DEMAND.  171 

and  700  or  800  yards  distant  We  now,  from  this  standing- 
point,  therefore,  completed  onr  inspection  of  allEebrabasa,  and 
saw  what,  as  a  whole,  was  never  before  seen  by  Europeans  so 
&r  as  any  records  show. 

The  diff<drence  of  level  between  Pajodze  and  Tette,  as 
shown  by  the  barometer,  was  about  160  feet ;  but  it  must 
be  remembered  that  we  had  no  simultaneous  observations  at 
the  two  stations.  The  somewhat  oonical  shape  of  Zaka- 
Tuma  standing  on  the  right,  and  the  more  castellated 
form  of  Morumbwa  on  the  left,  constitute  the  narrow  gate- 
way in  which  the  cataract  exists.  The  talus  of  each  portal, 
keeping  close  together  northwards,  makes  a  narrow,  upright- 
sided  trough  from  the  cataract  up  to  Pajodze.  The  deep 
green  river  winds  in  it  among  massive  black  angular  rocks; 
above  this,  as  far  as  Chicova,  Die  Zambesi  again  has  a  flood 
bed  and  a  deep  waterwom  groove,  like  that  near  the  lower 
end  of  Eebrabasa,  but  the  flood  bed  is  only  200  or  300 
yards  broad,  and  the  stream  in  this  part  of  the  groove 
is  adorned  in  various  places  with  the  white  foam  of  a 
number  of  small  rapids.  By  the  motion  of  pieces  of 
wood  in  the  water,  and  timed  by  a  watch,  the  current 
was  ascertained  to  be  from  3*3  to  4*1  knots  per  hour 
in  the  more  rapid  places.  We  breakfasted  a  short  dis- 
tance above  Pajodze.  At  a  comparatively  smooth  part 
of  the  Zambesi,  called  Movuzi,  still  further  up,  where 
traders  sometimes  cross  from  the  southern  to  the  northern 
bank,  a  Banyai  headman  came  over  with  a  dozen  armed 
fc^wers,  and  in  an  insolent  way  demanded  payment  for 
leave  to  pass  on  our  way.  This  was  not  a  friendly 
request  for  a  present,  so  our  men  told  him  that  it  was 
not  the  custom  of  the  English  to  pay  fines  for  nothing; 
iind,  being  unsuccessful,  he  went  quietly  back  again.     One 


172  MAGNIFICENT  MOUNTAIN  SCENERY.      Chap.  YII, 

Chief  of  the  Banyai  on  the  opposite  bank  is  called  Zuda, 
which  the  Portuguese  translate  into  Judas,  on  account  of  hi& 
grasping  propensities.  Talking  of  us  to  some  of  our  party,  he 
said,  "  These  men  passed  me  going  down  and  gave  me 
nothing ;  the  English  cloth  is  good ;  I  am  come  to  clothe 
myself  with  it  now  as  they  go  up."  His  messenger  came  and 
sat  down  impudently  in  our  midst  before  we  rose  from 
breakfast,  and  began  an  oration,  not  to  us,  but  to  his  atten- 
dant. This  talking  at  us  roused  the  Makololo's  ire,  and 
they  replied  that  "English  cloth  was  good;  and  Englishmen 
paid  for  all  they  ate.  They  were  now  walking  on  God's  earth 
in  peace,  doing  no  harm  to  the  country  or  gardens,  though 
English  guns  had  six  mouths,  and  English  balls  travelled  far, 
and  hit  hard."  However,  by  keeping  on  the  left  bank,  we 
avoided  collision  with  these  troublesome  and  exacting  Banyai. 
The  remainder  of  the  Kebrabasa  path,  on  to  Chicova,  was 
close  to  the  compressed  and  rocky  river.  Kanges  of  lofty 
tree-covered  mountains,  with  deep  narrow  valleys,  in  which 
are  dry  watercourses,  or  flowing  rivulets,  stretch  from  the 
north-west,  and  are  prolonged  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
river  in  a  south-easterly  direction.  Looking  back,  the  moun- 
tain scenery  in  Kebrabasa  was  magnificent ;  conspicuous  from 
their  form  and  steep  sides,  are  the  two  gigantic  portals  of  the 
cataract;  the  vast  forests  still  wore  their  many  brilliant 
autumnal-coloured  tints  of  green,  yellow,  red,  purple,  and 
brown,  thrown  into  relief  by  the  grey  bark  of  the  trimks  in 
the  background.  Among  these  variegated  trees  were  some  con- 
spicuous for  their  new  livery  of  fresh  light-green  leaves,  as 
though  the  winter  of  others  was  their  spring.  The  bright  sun- 
shine in  these  mountain  forests,  and  the  ever-changing  forms 
of  the  cloud  shadows,  gliding  over  portions  of  the  surface, 
added  fresh  charms  to  scenes  already  surpassingly  beautiful. 


€hap.  VII.       SANDIA'S  REPOUT  OF  KEBHABASA.  173 

From  what  we  have  seen  of  the  K(*l)rabasa  nx'ks  and 
rapids,  it  appears  too  evident  that  they  niiist  always  form  a 
barrier  to  navigation  at  the  ordinary  low  water  of  the  river  ; 
but  the  rise  of  the  water  in  this  gorge  being  as  much  as  eighty 
feet  perpendicularly,  it  is  probable  that  a  steamer  might  be 
taken  up  at  high  flood,  when  all  the  rapids  are  smoothed 
over,  to  run  on  the  upper  Zambesi.  The  most  formidable  cata- 
ract in  it,  Morumbwa,  has  only  about  twenty  feet  of  fall,  in 
a  distance  of  thirty  yards,  and  it  must  entirely  disapjx^ar  when 
the  water  stands  eighty  feet  higher.     Those  of  the  ^fakololo 
who  worked  on  board  the  ship  were  not  sorry  at  the  steamer 
being  left  below,  as  they  had  become  heartily  tired  of  cutting 
the  wood  that  the  insatiable  furnace  of  the  "  Asthmatic  "  re- 
quired.    Mbia,  who  was  a  bit  of  a  wag,  laughingly  exclaimed 
in  broken  English,  **  Oh,  Kebrabasa  good,  veiy  good ;  no  let 
shippee  up  to  Sekeletu,  too  muchee  work,  cuttee  Avoodyee, 
cuttee  woodyee :  Kebrabasa  good."    It  is  currently  reported, 
and  commonly  believed,  that  once  upon  a  time  a  Portuguese 
named  Jos6  Pedra, — ^by  the  natives  called  Nyamatimbira, — 
Chief,  or  capitao  mor,  of  Zumbo,  a  man  of  large  enterprise 
and  small  humanity, — ^being  anxious  to  ascertain  if  Kebrabasa 
could  be  navigated,  made  two  slaves  fast  to  a  canoe,  and 
launched  it  from  Chicova  into  Kebrabasa,  in  order  to  see  if 
it  would  come  out  at  the  other  end.     As  neither  slaves  nor 
canoe  ever  appeared  again,  his  Excellency  concluded  that 
Kebrabasa  was  unnavigable.     A  trader  had  a  large  canoe 
swept  away  by  a  sudden  rise  of  the  river,  and  it  was  found 
without  damage  below;    but   the   most   satisfactory  infor- 
mation was  that  of  old  Sandia,  who  asserted  that  in  flood 
all  Kebrabasa  became  quite  smooth,  and  he  had  often  seen 
it  so. 


174  MODE  OP  MAKING  FIBE.  Chap.  Till. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Pass  from  Eelcabasa  on  to  Ghicova  on  7th  June,  1860  —  Native  travdlen' 
mode  of  making  fire  — Night  arrangements  of  the  camp — Native  names  of 
Stars  —  Moon-blindness  —  Onr  Tolunteer  fireman  —  Native  political  discus- 
sions—  Onr  manner  of  marching — Not  to  make  toil  of  a  pleasure — The 
civilized  show  more  endurance  than  the  uncivilized  —  Gbitora's  politeness  — 
Filtered  water  preferred  by  native  women  —  "Whites  hobgoblins  to  the 
blacks — The  fear  of  man  on  wild  animals  —  First  impressions  of  a  donkey's 
vocal  powers. 

We  emerged  from  the  thirty-five  or  forty  miles  of  Kebrabasa 
hills  into  the  ChicoYa  plains  on  the  7th  of  June,  1860, 
haying  made  short  marches  all  the  way.  The  cold  nights 
caused  some  of  our  men  to  cough  badly,  and  colds  in  this 
country  almost  invariably  become  fever.  The  Zambesi  sud- 
denly expands  at  Chicova,  and  assumes  the  size  and  appear- 
ance it  has  at  Tette.  Near  this  point  we  found  a  large  seam 
of  coal  exposed  in  the  left  bank. 

We  met  with  native  travellers  occasionally.  Those 
on  a  long  journey  carry  with  them  a  sleeping.mat  and 
wooden  pillow,  cooking-pot  and  bag  of  meal,  pipe  and 
tobacco-pouch,  a  knife,  bow,  and  arrows,  and  two  small  sticks, 
of  from  two  to  three  feet  in  length,  for  making  fire,  when 
obliged  to  sleep  away  from  human  habitations.  Dry  wood 
is  always  abundant,  and  they  get  fire  by  the  following 
method.  A  notch  is  cut  in  one  of  the  sticks,  which,  witli 
a  close-grained  outside,  has  a  small  core  of  pith,  and  this 
notched  stick  is  laid  horizontally  on  a  knife-blade  on  the 
ground;  the  operator  squatting,  places  his  great  toes  on 
each  end  to  keep  all  steady,  and  taking  the  other  wand, 
which  is  of  very  hard  wood  cut  to  a  blunt  point,  fits  it  into 


Chap.  VIIL     KIGHT  ARRANGEMENTS  OF  THE  CAMP.         175 

the  notch  at  right  angles ;  the  npright  wand  is  made  to  spin 
rapidly  backwards  and  forwards  between  the  palms  of  the 
hands,  drill  fashion,  and  at  the  same  time  is  pressed 
downwards;  the  frictimi,  in  the  course  of  a  minnte  or  so, 
ignites  portions  of  the  pith  of  the  notched  stick,  which, 
rolling  oyer  like  live  charcoal  on  to  the  knife-blade,  are 
lifted  into  a  handful  of  fine  dry  grass,  and  carefully  blown,* 
by  waving  backwards  and  forwards  in  the  air.  It  is  hard 
wc«k  for  the  hands  to  procmre  fire  by  this  process,  as  the 
Tigorous  drilling  and  downward  pressure  requisite  soon 
blister  soft  palms. 

Having  now  entered  a  country  where  lions  were  nnmerons, 
onr  men  began  to  pay  greater  attention  to  the  arrangements 
of  the  camp  at  night  As  they  are  accustomed  to  do  with 
thdr  Chiefs,  they  place  the  white  men  in  the  centre ;  Ean- 
yata,  his  men,  and  the  two  donkeys,  camp  on  onr  right; 
Tuba  MokoTo's  party  of  Bashnbia  are  in  front,  Masakasa, 
and  Sininyane's  body  of  Batoka,  on  the  left,  and  in  the  rear 
six  Tette  men  have  their  fires.  In  placing  their  fires  they 
are  careful  to  put  them  where  the  smoke  will  not  blow  in 
our  faces.  Soon  after  we  halt,  the  spot  for  the  English  is 
selected,  and  all  regulate  their  places  accordingly,  and 
deposit  their  burdens.  The  men  take  it  by  turns  to  cut 
some  of  the  tall  dry  grass,  and  spread  it  for  our  beds  on  a 
spot,  either  naturally  level,  or  smoothed  by  the  hoe ;  some, 
appointed  to  carry  our  bedding,  then  bring  our  rugs  and 
karoBses,  and  place  the  three  rugs  in  a  row  on  the  grass; 
Dr.  Livingstone's  being  in  the  middle.  Dr.  Kirk's  on  the  right, 
and  Charles  Livingstone's  on  the  left.  Our  bags,  rifles,  and 
revolvers  are  carefully  placed  at  our  heads,  and  a  fire 
made  near  our  feet.  We  have  no  tent  nor  covering  of 
any  kind  except  the  branches  of  the  tree  under  which  we 


176  MOON-BLINDNESS.  Chap.  VIII. 

may  happen  to  lie ;  and  it  is  a  pretty  sight  to  look  up  and 
see  every  branch,  leaf,  and  twig  of  the  tree  stand  out,  re- 
flected against  the  clear  star-spangled  and  moonlit  sky.    The 
.stars  of  the  first  magnitude  have  names  which  convey  the 
Same  meaning  over  very  wide  tracts  of  country.    Here  when 
Venus  comes  out  in  the  evenings,  she  is  called  Ntanda,  the 
eldest  or  first-born,  and  Manjika,  the  first-bom  of  morn- 
ing, at  other  times :  she  has  so  much  radiance  when  shining 
alone,  that  she  casts  a  shadow.    Sirius  is  named  Kuewa  usiko, 
"  drawer  of  night,"  because  supposed  to  draw  the  whole  night 
after  it.    The  moon  has  no  evil  influence  in  this  country,  so 
far  as  we  know.  We  have  lain  and  looked  up  at  her,  till  sweet 
sleep  closed  our  eyes,  unharmed.    Four  or  five  of  our  men. 
were  affected  with  moon-blindness  at  Tette ;  though  they 
had  not  slept  out   of   doors  there,  they  became  so  blind 
that  their  comrades  had  to  guide  their  hands  to  the  general 
dish   of   food ; ,  the    affection    is    unknown  in   their  own 
countrj%    When  om*  posterity  shall  have  discovered  what  it 
is  Avhich,  distinct  from  foul  smells,  causes  fever,  and  what, 
apart  from  the  moon,  causes  men  to  be  moon-struck,  they 
will  pity  our  dulness  of  perception. 

The  men  cut  a  very  small  quantity  of  grass  for  them- 
selves, and  sleep  in  fumbas  or  sleeping-bags,  which  are 
double  mats  of  palm-leaf,  six  feet  long  by  four  wide,  and 
sewn  together  round  three  parts  of  the  square,  and  left 
open  only  on  one  side.  They  are  used  as  a  protection 
from  the  cold,  wet,  and  mosquitoes,  and  are  entered  as  we 
should  get  into  our  beds,  were  the  blankets  nailed  to  the 
top,  bottom,  and  one  side  of  the  bedstead.  When  they 
are  all  inside  their  fumbas,  nothing  is  seen  but  sacks  lying 
all  about  the  different  fires.  At  times  two  persons  sleep 
inside  one,  which  is,  indeed,  close  packing.    Matonga,  one  of 


Chap.  VIH.  OUR  VOLUNTEER  FIREMAN.  177 

the  men,  has  volunteered  to  take  the  sole  charge  of  our  fire, 
and  is  ta  receive  for  his  services  the  customary  payment  of 
the  heads  and  necks  of  all  the  beasts  we  kill ;  and,  except  on 
the  days  when  only  guinea-fowl  are  shot,  he  thus  gets 
abundance  of  food.  He  bears  our  fowl  diet  resignedly  for  a 
few  days,  and  then,  if  no  large  game  is  killed,  he  comes  and 
expostulates  as  seriously,  as  he  did  with  the  lion  that  envied 
us  our  buffalo  meat,  "  Morena,  my  -  lord,  a  hungry  man 
cannot  fill  his  stomach  with  the  head  of  a  bird ;  he  is  killed 
with  hunger  for  want  of  meat,  and  will  soon,  from  sheer 
weakness,  be  unable  to  carry  the  wood  for  the  fire  ;  he  ought 
to  have  an  entire  bird  to  save  him  from  dying  of  starvation." 
His  request  being  reasonable,  and  guinea-fowl  abundant,  it 
is  of  course  complied  with.  Guinea-fowl  are  conveniently 
numerous  on  the  Zambesi  during  the  dry  season ;  they  then 
collect  in  large  flocks  and  come  daily  to  the  river  to  drink, 
and  roost  at  night  on  the  tall  acacia-trees  on  its  banks. 
We  usually  fall  in  with  two  or  three  flocks  in  the  course  of 
the  day's  march,  and  find  that  they  are  all  fat,  and  in 
excellent  condition.  In  a  few  spots,  as  at  Shupanga,  a 
second  variety  is  found,  which  has  a  pretty  black  feathery 
crest,  and  is.  a  much  handsomer  bird  than  the  common  one ; 
the  native  name  is  Khanga  Torey  and  its  spots  are  a  fine 
light  blue.    Naturalists  call  it  Numida  cristata. 

A  dozen  fires  are  nightly  kindled  in  the  camp ;  and  these, 
being  replenished  from  time  to  time  by  the  men  who  are 
awakened  by  the  cold,  are  kept  burning  until  daylight. 
Abundance  of  dry  hard  wood  is  obtained  with  little 
trouble;  and  burns  beautifully.  After  the  great  business 
of  cooking  and  eating  is  over,  all  sit  round  the  camp-fires^ 
and  engage  in  talking  or  singing.  Every  evening  one  of  the 
Batoka  plays  his  sansa,  and  continues  at  it  until  far  into 

N 


178  MANNER  OF  MARCHING.  Chap.  VI IT. 

the  night;  he  accompanies  it  with  an  extempore  song,  in 
which  he  rehearses  their  deeds  ever  since  they  left  their  own 
country.  At  times  animated  poUtical  discussions  spring  up, 
and  the  amount  of  eloquence  expended  on  these  occasions 
is  amazing.  The  whole  camp  is  aroused,  and  the  men  shout 
to  one  another  from  the  diflTerent  fires ;  whilst  some,  whose 
tongues  are  never  heard  on  any  other  subject,  now  burst 
forth  into  impassioned  speech.  The  misgovemment  of  Chiefs 
furnishes  an  inexhaustible  theme.  "  We  could  govern  our- 
selves better,"  they  cry,  "so  what  is  the  use  of  Chiefe  at  all? 
they  do  not  work.  The  Chief  is  fat,  and  has  plenty  of  wives ; 
whilst  we,  who  do  the  hard  work,  have  hunger,  only  one  wife, 
or  more  likely  none;  now  this  must  be  bad,  unjust,  and 
wrong."  All  shout  to  this  a  loud  "ehe,"  equivalent  to  our 
**  hear,  hear."  Next  the  headman,  Eanyata,  and  Tuba  with 
his  loud  voice,  are  heard  taking  up  the  subject  on  the  loyal 
side.     "  The  Chief  is  the  father  of  the  people ;  can  there  be 

f 

people  without  a  father,  eh  ?  God  made  the  Chief.  Who  says 
that  the  Chief  is  not  wise  ?  He  is  wise ;  but  his  children  are 
fools."  Tuba  goes  on  generally  till  he  has  silenced  all  oppo- 
sition ;  and  if  his  arguments  are  not  always  sound,  his  voice 
is  the  loudest,  and  he  is  sure  to  have  the  last  word. 

As  a  specimen  of  our  mode  of  marching,  we  rise  about 
five,  or  as  soon  as  dawn  appears,  take  a  cup  of  tea  and  a 
bit  of  biscuit ;  the  servants  fold  up  the  blankets  and  stow 
them  away  in  the  bags  they  carry;  the  others  tie  their 
fumbas  and  cooking-pots  to  each  end  of  their  carrying-sticks, 
which  are  borne  on  the  shoulder;  the  cook  secures  the 
dishes,  and  all  are  on  the  path  by  sunrise.  If  a  con- 
venient spot  can  be  found  we  halt  for  breakfast  about  nine 
AJIL  To  save  time,  this  meal  is  generally  cooked  the  night 
before,  and  has  only  to  be  warmed.    We  continue  the  march 


Chap,  VIII.  POWERS  OF  ENDURANCE.  179 

after  breakfast,  rest  a  little  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  and 
break  off  early  in  the  afternoon.    We  average  from  two  to 
two-and-a-half  miles  an  hour  in  a  straight  line,  or,  as  the  crow 
flies,  and  seldom  have  more  than  five  or  six  hours  a  day  of 
actual  travel.  This  in  a  hot  climate  is  as  much  as  a  man  can 
accomplish  without  being  oppressed ;  and  we  always  tried  to 
make  our  progress  more  a  pleasure  than  a  toil.  To  hurry  over 
the  ground,  abuse,  and  look  ferocious  at  one's  native  com- 
panions, merely  for  the  foolish  vanity  of  boasting  how  quickly 
a  distance  was  accomplished,  is  a  combination  of  silliness 
with  absurdity  quite  odious ;  while  kindly  consideration  for 
the  feelings  of  even  blacks,  the  pleasure  of  observing  scenery 
and  everything  new  as  one  moves  on  at  an  ordinary  pace, 
and  the  participation  in  the  most  delicious  rest  with  our 
fellows,  render  travelling  delightful.    Though  not  given  to 
over  haste,  we  were  a  little  surprised  to  find  that  we  could 
tire  our  men  out;  and  even  the  headman,  who  carried  but 
little  more  than  we  did,  and  never,  as  we  often  had  to  do, 
hunted  in  the  afternoon,  was  no  better  than  his  comi*ades. 
Our  experience  tends  to  prove  that  the  European  constitution 
has  a  power  of  endurance,  even  in  the  tropics,  greater  than 
that  of  the  hardiest  of  the  meat-eating  Africans. 

After  pitching  our  camp,  one  or  two  of  us  usually  go  ofif  to 
hunt,  more  as  a  matter  of  necessity  than  of  pleasure,  for  the 
men,  as  well  as  ourselves,  must  have  meat.  We  prefer  to  take 
a  man  with  us  to  carry  home  the  game,  or  lead  the  others  to 
where  it  lies ;  but  as  they  frequently  grumble  and  complain 
of  being  tired,  we  do  not  particularly  object  to  going  alone, 
except  that  it  involves  the  extra  labour  of  our  making 
a  second  trip  to  show  the  men  where  the  animal  that  has 
been  shot  is  to  be  found.  When  it  is  a  couple  of  miles  off 
it  is  rather  fatiguing  to  have  to  go  twice;  more  especially 

N  2 


180  CHICOVA  PLAINS.  Chap.  VIIL 

on  the  days  when  it  is  solely  to  supply  their  wants  that,  in- 
stead of  resting  ourselves,  we  go  at  all.  Like  those  who 
perform  benevolent  deeds  at  home,  the  tired  hunter,  though 
trying  hard  to  live  in  charity  \^ith  all  men,  is  strongly 
tempted  to  give  it  up  by  bringing  only  sufficient  meat  for 
the  three  whites  and  leaving  the  rest;  thus  sending  the 
"idle  ungrateful  poor"  supperless  to  bed.  And  yet  it  is 
only  by  continuance  in  well-doing,  even  to  the  length  of 
what  the  worldly-wise  call  weakness,  that  the  conviction  is 
produced  anywhere,  that  our  motives  are  high  enougb  to 
secure  sincere  respect. 

The  Chicova  plains  are  very  fertile,  have  rich  dark  soil,  and 
formerly  supported  a  numerous  population ;  but  desolating  wars 
and  slaving  had  swept  away  most  of  the  inhabitants.  In  spite 
of  a  rank  growth  of  weeds,  cotton  still  remains  in  the  deserted 
gardens  of  ruined  villages.  A  jungle  of  mimosa,  ebony,  and 
"  wait-a-bit"  thorn  lies  between  the  Chicova  flats  and  the  cul- 
tivated plain,  on  which  stand  the  villages  of  the  Chief,  Chitora. 
He  brought  us  a  present  of  food  and  drink,  because,  as  he,  with 
the  innate  politeness  of  an  African,  said,  he  "  did  not  wish  us 
to  sleep  hungry :  he  had  heard  of  the  Doctor  when  he  passed 
down,  and  had  a  great  desire  to  see  and  converse  with  him ; 
but  he  was  a  child  then,  and  could  not  speak  in  the  presence 
of  great  men.  He  was  glad  that  he  had  seen  the  English 
now,  and  was  sorry  that  his  people  were  away,  or  he  should 
have  made  them  cook  for  us."  All  his  subsequent  conduct 
showed  him  to  be  sincere. 

Many  of  the  African  women  are  particular  about  the  water 
they  use  for  drinking  and  cooking,  and  prefer  that  which  is 
filtered  through  sand.  To  secure  this,  they  scrape  holes 
in  the  sandbanks  beside  the  stream,  and  scoop  up  the  water,  ; 

which  slowly  filters  through,  rather  than  take  it  fi-om  the 


Chap.  VIIT.  HORROR  OF  WHITE  MEN.  181 

equally  clear  and  limpid  river.  This  practice  is  common  in 
the  Zambesi,  the  Bovnma,  and  Lake  Nyassa ;  and  some  of  the 
Portuguese  at  Tett«  have  adopted  the  native  custom,  and 
send  canoes  to  a  low  island  in  the  middle  of  the  river  for 
water.  Chitora's  people  also  obtained  their  supply  from 
shallow  wells  in  the  sandy  bed  of  a  small  rivulet  close  to 
the  village.  The  habit  may  have  arisen  from  observing  the 
imhealthiness  of  the  main  stream  at  certain  seasons.  During 
nearly  nine  months  in  the  year,  ordure  is  deposited  around 
countless  villages  along  the  thousands  of  miles  drained 
by  the  Zambesi  When  the  heavy  rains  come  down,  and 
sweep  the  vast  fetid  accumulation  into  the  torrents,  the 
water  is  polluted  with  filth;  and,  but  for  the  precaution 
mentioned,  the  natives  would  prove  themselves  as  little  fas- 
tidious as  those  in  London  who  drink  the  abomination  pouretl 
into  the  Thames  by  Reading  and  Oxford.  It  is  no  wonder 
that  sailors  suffered  so  much  from  fever  after  drinking  African 
river  water,  before  the  present  admirable  system  of  condensing 
it  was  adopted  in  our  Navy. 

There  must  be  something  in  the  appearance  of  white  men, 
frightfidly  repulsive  to  the  unsophisticated  natives  of  Africa ; 
for,  on  entering  villages  previously  unvisited  by  Europeans, 
if  we  met  a  child  coming  quietly  and  unsuspectingly  towards 
us,  the  moment  he  raised  his  eyes,  and  saw  the  men  in  "  bags," 
he  would  take  to  his  heels  in  an  agony  of  terror,  such  as  wo 
might  feel  if  we  met  a  live  Egyptian  mummy  at  the  door 
of  the  British  Museum.  Alarmed  by  the  child's  wild  outcries, 
the  mother  rushes  out  of  her  hut,  but  darts  back  again  at  the 
first  glimpse  of  the  same  fearful  apparition.  Dogs  turn  tail, 
and  scour  off  in  dismay ;  and  hens,  abandoning  their  chickens, 
fly  screaming  to  the  tops  of  the  houses.  The  so  lately 
peaceful  village  becomes  a  scene  of  confusion  and  hubbub. 


182  WILD  ANIMALS'  FEAR  OF  MAN.  Chap.  VIU. 

until  calmed  by  the  laughing  assurance  of  our  men,  that 
white  people  do  not  eat  black  folks ;  a  joke  having  often- 
times greater  influence  in  Africa  than  solemn  assertions. 
Some  of  our  young  swells,  on  entering  an  African  viUage, 
might  experience  a  collapse  of  self-inflation,  at  the  sight  of 
all  the  pretty  girls  fleeing  from  them,  as  from  hideous 
cannibals ;  or  by  witnessing,  as  we  have  done,  the  conversion 
of  themselves  into  public  hobgoblins,  the  mammas  holding 
naughty  children  away  from  them,  and  saying  "  Be  good,  or 
I  shall  call  the  white  man  to  bite  you." 

The  scent  of  man  is  excessively  terrible  to  game  of  all 
kinds,  much  more  so,  probably,  than  the  sight  of  him,     A 
herd  of  antelopes,  a  hundred  yards  off,  gazed  at  us  as  we 
moved  along  the  winding  path,  and  timidly  stood  their  ground 
until  half  our  line  had  passed,  but  darted  off  the  instant  they 
"  got  the  wind,"  or  caught  the  flavoiu:  of  those  who  had  gone 
by.    The  sport  is  all  up  with  the  hunter  who  gets  to  the 
windward  of  the  African  beast,  as  it  cannot  stand  even 
the  distant  aroma  of  the  human  race,  so  much  dreaded 
by  all  wild  animals.    Is  this  the  fear  and  the  dread  of  maiif 
which  the  Almighty  said  to  Noah  was  to  be  upon  every 
beast  of  the  field  ?    A  lion  may,  while  lying  in  wait  for  his 
prey,  leap  on  a  human  being  as  he  would  on  any  other  animal, 
save  a  rhinoceros  or  an  elephant,  that  happened  to  pass ;  or  a 
Uoness,  when  she  has  cubs,  might  attack  a  man,  who,  passing 
"up  the  wind  of  her,"  had  unconsciously,   by  his  scent, 
alarmed  her  for  the  safety  of  her  whelps ;  or  buffaloes,  and 
other  animals,  might  rush  at  a  line  of  travellers,  in  apprehen- 
sion of  being  surrounded  by  them ;  but  neither  beast  nor  snake 
will,  as  a  general  rule,  turn  on  man  except  when  wounded, 
or  by  mistake.    K  gorillas,  unwounded,  advance  to  do  battle 
with  him,  and  beat  their  breasts  in  defiance,  they  are  an 


Cbap.  VIII.  DONKEYS'  VOCAL  POWERS.  183 

exception  to  all  wild  beasts  known  to  us.  From  the  way 
an  elephant  runs  at  the  first  glance  of  man,  it  is  inferred 
that  this  huge  brute^  though  really  king  of  beasts,  would  run 
even  from  a  child. 

Our  two  donkeys  caused  as  much  admiration  as  the  three 
white  men.  Great  was  the  astonishment  when  one  of  the 
donkeys  began  to  bray.  The  timid  jumped  more  than  if  a  lion 
had  roared  beside  them.  All  were  startled,  and  stared  m 
mute  amazement  at  the  harsh-voiced  one,  till  the  last  broken 
noto  was  uttered ;  then,  on  being  assured  that  nothing  in 
particular  was  meant,  they  looked  at  each  other,  and  burst 
into  a  loud  laugh  at  their  common  surprise.  When  one  doukey 
stimulated  the  other  to  try  his  vocal  powers,  the  interest 
felt  by  the  startled  visitors,  must  have  equalled  that  of  the 
Londoners,  when  they  first  crowded  to  see  the  famous 
hippopotamus. 


184  SEAMS  OP  COAL.  •  Chap.  IX. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Seams  of  coal  under  Tette  grey  sandstone — Use  of  coal  unknown  to  the 
natives — Mbia  kills  a  hippopotamus  —  Traps  and  pitfiedls — Sagadtj  of 
depbants  at  pitfalls — White  ants  and  their  galleries — Black  soldler-anta 
lord  it  over  the  white  ants  —  Language  of  ants  —  Biting  ants  —  Rogue 
monkey  respected  —  Native  salt-making  —  The  Mountains  —  Chikwanitsela 
—  Afflictions  of  beasts — The  human  buffiilo  —  Mpende  —  Chilondo  — 
Monaheng  murdered  —Animals  which  have  not  been  hunted  with  fire- 
arms—  Pangola — A  rifle-loving  Chief — Undi  and  fate  of  African  empires  — 
Are  Afiicans  industrious?  —  Arrive  at  Zumbo  on  the  Loangwa  on  2611i 
June  —  Results  of  no  government — Murder  of  Mpangue  —  Sequaaha. 

We  were  now,  when  we  crossed  the  boundaiy  rivulet  Xyama- 
tarara,  out  of  Chicova  and  amongst  sandstone  rocks,  similar 
to  those  which  prevail  between  Lupata  and  Kebrabasa.  In 
the  latter  gorge,  as  already  mentioned,  igneous  and  syenitic 
masses  have  been  acted  on  by  some  great  fiery  convulsion  of 
nature ;  the  strata  are  thrown  into  a  huddled  heap  of  confu- 
sion. The  coal  has  of  course  disappeared  in  Kebrabasa,  but 
is  found  again  in  Chicova.  Tette  grey  sandstone  is  common 
about  Sinjere,  and,  wherever  it  is  seen  with  fossil  wood  upon 
it,  coal  lies  beneath ;  and  here,  as  at  Chicova,  some  seams 
crop  out  on  the  banks  of  the  Zambesi.  Looking  southwards, 
the  countiy  is  open  plain  and  woodland,  with  detached  hills 
and  mountains  in  the  distance ;  but  the  latter  are  too  far  off, 
the  natives  say,  for  them  to  know  their  names.  The  principal 
hills  on  our  right,  as  we  look  up  stream,  are  from  six  to 
twelve  miles  away,  and  occasionally  they  send  down  spurs  to 
the  river,  with  brooks  floAVing  through  their  narrow  valleys. 


Chap.  IX.  MBIA  KILLS  A  HIPPOPOTAMUS.  ISf) 

The  banks  of  the  Zambesi  show  two  well-defined  terraces ; 
the  first,  or  lowest,  being  usually  narrow,  and  of  great  fer- 
tility, while  the  upper  one  is  a  dry  grassy  plain,  a  thorny 
jungle,  or  a  mopane  {Bauhinia)  forest.  One  of  these  plains, 
near  the  Eafue,  is  covered  with  the  large  stumps  and  trunks 
of  a  petrified  forest.  We  halted  a  couple  of  days  by  the  fine 
stream  Sinj^re,  which  comes  from  the  Chiroby-roby  hills, 
*  about  eight  miles  to  the  north.  Many  lumps  of  coal,  brought 
down  by  the  rapid  current,  lie  in  its  channel.  The  natives 
never  seem  to  have  discovered  that  coal  would  bum,  and, 
when  informed  of  the  fact,  shook  their  heads,  smiled  in- 
credulously, and  said  *'Kodi'*  (really),  evidently  regarding 
it  as  a  mere  traveller's  tale.  They  were  astounded  to  see  it 
burning  freely  on  our  fire  of  wood.  They  told  us  that  plenty 
of  it  was  seen  among  the  hills ;  but,  being  long  ago  aware  that 
we  were  now  in  an  immense  coalfield,  we  did  not  care  to 
examine  it  further.  Coal  had  been  discovered  to  the  south 
of  this  in  1856^  and  several  seams  were  examined  on  the  stream 
Revubue,  a  few  miles  distant  from  Tette.  This  was  evidently 
an  extension  of  the  same  field,  but  the  mineral  was  more 
bituminous  In  an  open  fire  it  bubbled  up,  and  gave  put 
gas  like  good  domestic  coal. 

A  dyke  of  black  basaltic  rock,  called  Kakolole,  crosses 
the  river  near  the  mouth  of  the  Sinjere;  but  it  has  two 
open  gateways  in  it  of  from  sixty  to  eighty  yards  in  breadth, 
and  the  channel  is  very  deep. 

On  a  shallow  sandbank,  under  the  dyke,  lay  a  herd  of 
hippopotami  in  fancied  security.  The  young  ones  were  play- 
ing with  each  other  like  young  puppies,  climbing  on  the  backs 
of  their  dams,  trying  to  take  hold  of  one  another  by  the 
jaws,  and  tumbling  over  into  the  water.  Mbia,  one  of  the 
Makololo,  waded  across  to  within  a  dozen  yards  of  the  drowsy 


A  HEADMAN'S  TISIT.  Chap.  IX. 


beaste,  and  shot  the  father  of  the  herd ;  who,  being  very  fiit, 
Booa  floated,  and  was  secnred  at  the  village  helow.  The 
headman  of  the  village  visited  U8  while  we  were  at  break- 
fiast.    He  wore  a  black  ife  wig  and  a  printed  shirt    After 


Group  of  HLppopotomL. 

a  short  silence  he  said  to  Masalcasa,  "You  are  with  the 
white  people,  so  why  do  you  not  tell  them  to  give  me  a 
cloth?"  "  We  are  Btrangers,"  answered  Masakasa,  "why  do 
yoQ  not  bring  us  some  food?"  He  took  the  plain  hint,  and 
brought  ns  two  fowls,  in  order  that  we  should  not  report  that 
in  passing  him  we  got  nothing  to  eat ;  and,  as  usual,  we 
gave  a  cloth  in  return.  In  reference  to  the  hippopotamus 
he  would  make  no  demand,  bnt  said  he  would  take  what 
we  chose  to  give  him.  The  men  gorged  themselves  with 
meat  for  two  days,  and  cut  large  quantities  into  long  narrow 
strips,  which  they  half-dried  and  half-roasted  on  wooden 
frames  over  the  fire.    Much  game  is  taken  in  this  neighbour- 


Chap.  IX.  TRAPS  AND  PITFALLS.  187 

hcK)d  in  pitfalls.  Sharp-pointed  stakes  are  set  in  the  bottom, 
on  which  the  game  tumbles  and  gets  impaled.  The  natives 
are  careful  to  warn  strangers  of  these  traps,  and  also 
of  the  poisoned  beams  suspended  on  the  tall  trees  for  the 
purpose  of  killing  elephants  and  hippopotami.  It  is  not 
difficult  to  detect  the  pitfalls  after  one's  attention  has  been 
called  to  them ;  but  in  places  where  they  are  careful  to  carry 
the  earth  off  to  a  distance,  and  a  person  is  not  thinking  of 
sudi  things,  a  sudden  descent  of  nine  feet  is  an  experience 
not  easily  forgotten  by  the  traveUer.  The  sensations  of  one 
thus  instantaneously  swallowed  up  by  the  earth  are  pecidiar. 
A  momentary  suspension  of  consciousness  is  followed  by 
the  rustling  sound  of  a  shower  of  sand  and  dry  grass,  and 
the  half-bewildered  thought  of  where  he  is,  and  how  he 
came  into  darkness.  Beason  awakes  to  assure  him  that  he 
must  have  come  down  through  that  small  opening  of  day- 
light oTcrhead,  and  that  he  is  now  where  a  hippopotamus 
ought  to  have  been.  The  descent  of  a  hippopotamus  pitfall  is 
easy,  like  that  of  Avemus,  but  to  get  out  again  into  the 
upper  air  is  a  work  of  labour.  The  sides  are  smooth  and 
treacherous,  and  the  cross  reeds,  which  support  the  covering, 
break  in  the  attempt  to  get  out  by  clutching  them.  A  cry 
fix)m  the  depths  is  unheard  by  those  around,  and  it  is  only  by 
repeated  and  most  desperate  efforts  that  the  buried  alive  can 
T^ain  the  upper  world.  At  Tette  we  were  told  of  a  white 
hunter,  of  unusually  small  stature,  who  plumped  into  a  pit 
while  stalking  a  guinea-fowl  on  a  tree.  It  was  the  labour 
of  an  entire  forenoon  to  get  out;  and  he  was  congratulat- 
ing himself  on  his  escape,  and  brushing  off  the  clay  from 
his  clothes,  when  down  he  went  into  a  second  pit,  which 
happened,  as  is  often  the  case,  to  be  close  beside  the  first, 
and  it  was  evening  before  he  could  work  himself  out  of  that 


188  ELEPHANTS— ■WHITE  AKTS.  Chap.  IS. 

Elepliaots  and  buffaloes  seldom  retnm  to  the  rirer  by  the 
same  path  on  two  successiTe  nights,  they  become  so  appre- 
hensive of  danger  from  this  human  art.  An  old  elephant 
Avill  walk  in  adrance  of  the  herd,  and  UQCorer  the  pits  with 
liis  trunk,  that  the  others  maj  see  the  openings  and  tread 
on  firm  ground.  Female  elephants  are  geneially  the  victims : 
more  timid  by  nature  than  the  males,  and  very  motherly 
in  their  anxiety  for  tiieir  calves,  they  carry  their  trunks  up, 
trying  every  breeze  for  fancied  danger,  which  often  in  reality 
iies  at  their  feet.  The  tusker,  fearing  less,  keeps  his  trunk 
down,  and,  warned  in  time  by  that  exquisitely  sensitive 
organ,  takes  heed  to  bis  ways. 

Our  camp  on  the  Sinjere  stood  under  a  wide-spreading  wild 
fig-tree.  From  the  numbers  of  this  family,  of  large  size, 
dotted  over  the  country,  the  fig  or  banyan  species  would  seem 
to  have  been  held  sacred  in  Africa  from  the  remotest  times. 
The  soil  teemed  with  white  ants,  whose  clay  tunnels,  formed 


CHAr.  IX.  BATTLE  OF  ANTS.  18» 

to  screen  them  from  the  eyes  of  birds,  thread  over  the 
ground,  up  the  trunks  of  trees  and  along  the  branches,  from 
which  the  little  architects  clear  away  all  rotten  or  dead 
wood.  Very  often  the  exact  shape  of  branches  is  left  in 
tunnels  on  the  ground  and  not  a  bit  of  the  wood  inside. 
The  first  night  we  passed  here  these  destructive  insects  ate 
through  our  grass-beds,  and  attacked  our  blankets,  and  certain 
large  red-headed  ones  even  bit  our  flesh. 

On  some  days  not  a  single  white  ant  is  to  be  seen 
abroad ;  and  on  others,  and  during  certain  hours,  they  appear 
out  of  doors  in  myriads,  and  work  with  extraordinary  zeal  and 
energy  in  carrying  bits  of  dried  grass  down  into  their  nests. 
During  these  busy  reaping-fits,  the  lizards  and  birds  have 
a  good  time  of  it,  and  enjoy  a  rich  feast  at  the  expense  of 
thousands  of  hapless  workmen ;  and,  when  they  swarm,  they 
are  caught  in  countless  numbers  by  the  natives,  and  their 
roasted  bodies  are  spoken  of  in  an  unctuous  manner  as 
resembling  grains  of  soft  rice  fiied  in  delicious  fresh  oil. 

A  strong  marauding  party  of  large  black  ants  attacked  a 
nest  of  white  ones  near  the  camp :  as  the  contest  took  place 
beneath  the  sur£Etce,  we  could  not  see  the  order  of  the  battle ; 
but  it  soon  became  apparent  that  the  blacks  had  gained  the 
day,  and  sacked  the  white  town,  for  they  returned  in  triumph, 
bearing  off  the  eggs,  and  choice  bits  of  the  bodies  of  the  van- 
quished. A  gift,  analogous  to  that  of  language,  has  not  been 
withheld  from  ants :  if  part  of  their  building  is  destroyed,  an 
official  is  seen  coming  out  to  examine  the  damage ;  and,  after 
a  careful  survey  of  the  ruins,  he  chirrups  a  few  clear  and  dis- 
tinct notes,  and  a  crowd  of  workers  begin  at  once  to  repair 
the  breach.  When  the  work  is  completed,  another  order  is 
giyen,  and  the  workmen  retire,  as  will  appear  on  removing  the 
soft  freshly-built  portion.    We  tried  to  sleep  one  rainy  night 


190  BITING  ANTS.  Chap.  IX. 

in  a  native  hut,  but  could  not  because  of  attacks  by  the 
fighting  battalions  of  a  very  small   species  of  formica,  not 
more  than  one-sixteenth  of  an  inch  in  length.     It  soon 
became  obvious  that  they  vrere  under  regular  discipline, 
and  even  attempting  to  carry  out  the  skilfiil  plans  and 
stratagems  of  some  eminent  leader.    Our  hands  and  necks 
were  the  first  objects  of  attack.     Large  bodies  of  these  little 
pests  were  massed  in  silence  round  the  point  to  be  assaulted. 
We  could  hear  the  sharp  shriU  word  of  command  two  or  three 
times  repeated,  though,  until  then,  we  had  not  believed  in 
the  vocal  power  of  an  ant ;  the  instant  after  we  felt  the  storm- 
ing hosts  range  over  head  and  neck,  biting  the  tender  skin, 
clinging  with  a  death-grip  to  the  hair,  and  parting  with  their 
jaws,  rather  than  quit  their  hold.    On  our  lying  down  again  in 
the  hope  of  their  having  been  driven  off,  no  sooner  was  the 
light  out,  and  all  still,  than  the  manoeuvre  was  repeated. 
Clear   and    audible   orders  were   issued,  and    the    assault 
renewed.    It  was  as  hard  to  sleep  in  that  hut,  as  in  the 
trenches  before  Sebastopol.     The  white  ant,  being  a  vege- 
table  feeder,    devours    articles   of  vegetable    origin    only, 
and  leather,  which,  by  tanning,  is  imbued  with  a  v^etable 
flavour.       "  A    man    may   be    rich    to-day   and    poor    to- 
morrow, from  the  ravages  of  white  ants,"  said  a  Portuguese 
merchant    "If  he  gets  sick,  and  unable  to  look  after  his 
goods,  his  slaves  neglect  them,  and  they  are  soon  destroyed 
by  these  insects."    The  reddish  ant,  in  the  west  called  drivers, 
crossed  our  path  daily,  in  solid  columns  an  inch  vride,  and 
never  did  the  pugnacity  of  either  man  or  beast  exceed  theirs. 
It  is  a  suflScient  cause  of  war  if  you  only  approach  them, 
even  by  accident    Some  turn  out  of  the  ranks  and  stand 
with  open  mandibles,  or,  charging  with  extended  jaws,  bite 
with  savage  ferocity.   When  hunting,  we  b'ghted  among  them 


Chap.  IX.  MONKEYS  RESPECTED.  191 

too  often;  while  we  were  intent  on  the  game,  and  with- 
out a  thought  of  ants,  they  quietly  covered  us  from  head 
to  foot^  then  all  began  to  bite  at  the  same  instant ;  seizing 
a  piece  of  the  skin  with  their  powerful  pincers,  they  twisted 
themselves  round  with  it,  as  if  determined  to  tear  it  out 
Their  bites  are  so  terribly  sharp  that  the  bravest  must  run, 
and  then  strip  to  pick  off  those  that  still  cling  with  their 
hooked  jaws,  as  mth  steel  forceps.  This  kind  abbunds  in 
damp  places,  and  is  usually  met  with  on  the  banks  of 
streams.  We  have  not  heard  of  their  actually  killing  any 
animal  except  the  Python,  and  that  only  when  gorged 
and  quite  lethargic,  but  they  soon  clear  away  any  dead 
animal  matter;  this  appears  to  be  their  principal  food, 
and  their  use  in  the  economy  of  nature  is  clearly  in  the 
scavenger  line. 

We  started  from  the  Sinjere  on  the  12th  of  June,  our 
men  carrying  with  them  bundles  of  hippopotamus  meat 
for  sale,  and  for  futuro  use.  We  rested  for  breakfast 
opposite  the  Eakolole  dyke,  which  confines  the  channel, 
west  of  the  Manyerere  mountain.  A  rogue  monkey,  the 
largest  by  far  that  we  ever  saw,  and  very  fat  and  tame, 
walked  off  leisurely  from  a  garden  as  we  approached.  The 
monkey  is  a  sacred  animal  in  this  region,  and  is  never 
molested  or  killed,  because  the  people  believe  devoutly  that 
the  souls  of  their  ancestors  now  occupy  these  degraded  forms, 
and  anticipate  that  they  themselves  must,  sooner  or  later,  be 
transformed  in  like  manner;  a  futTu*e  as  cheerless  for  the 
black,  as  the  spirit-rapper*s  heaven  is  for  the  whites.  The 
gardens  are  separated  from  each  other  by  a  single  row  of 
small  stones,  a  few  handfiils  of  grass,  or  a  slight  furrow  made 
by  the  hoe.  Some  are  enclosed  by  a  reed  fence  of  the 
flimsiest  construction,  yet  sufficient  to  keep  out  the  ever  wary 


192  SALT-MAKING— MOUNTAINS.  Chap.  JX, 

hippopotamus,  who  dreads  a  trap.  His  extreme  caution  is 
taken  advantage  of  by  the  women,  who  hang,  as  a  minia- 
ture trap-beam,  a  kigelia  fruit  with  a  bit  of  stick  in 
the  end.  This  protects  the  maize,  of  which  he  is  excessively 
fond. 

The  women  are  accustomed  to  transact  business  for  them- 
selves. They  accompany  the  men  into  camp,  sell  their  own 
wares,  and  appear  to  be  both  fair  traders,  and  modest  sensible 
persons.  Elsewhere  they  bring  things  for  sale  on  their  heads, 
and,  kneeling  at  a  respectful  distance,  wait  till  their  husbands 
or  fathers,  who  have  gone  forward,  choose  to  return,  and  to 
take  their  goods,  and  barter  for  thera.  Perhaps  in  this  parti- 
eular,  the  women  here  occupy  the  golden  mean  between  the 
Manganja  hill-tribes  and  the  Jaggas  of  the  north,  who  live  on 
the  mountain  sumn^its  near  Kilimanjaro.  It  is  said  that  at 
the  latter  place  the  women  do  all  the  trading,  have  regular 
markets,  and  will  on  no  account  allow  a  man  to  enter  the 
market-place. 

The  quantity  of  hippopotamus  meat  eaten  by  our  men 
made  some  of  them  ill,  and  our  marches  were  necessarily 
short.  After  three  hours'  travel  on  the  13th,  we  spent  the 
remainder  of  the  day  at  the  village  of  Chasiribera,  on  a 
rivulet  flowing  through  a  beautiful  valley  to  the  north,  which 
is  bounded  by  magnificent  mountain-ranges.  Pinkwe,  or 
Mbingwe,  otherwise  Moeu,  forms  the  south-eastern  angle 
of  the  range.  On  the  16th  June  we  were  at  the  flourish- 
ing village  of  Senga,  under  the  headman  Manyame,  which 
lies  at  the  foot  of  the  mount  Motemwa.  Nearly  all 
the  mountains  in  this  country  are  covered  with  open 
forest  and  grass,  in  colour,  according  to  the  season,  green 
or  yellow.  Many  are  between  2000  and  3000  feet  high,  witli 
the  sky  line  fringed  with  trees ;  the  rocks  show  just  suffi- 


Chap.  IX.  CHIKWANITSELA.  193 

ciently  for  one  to  observe  their  stratification,  or  their  granitic 
form,  and  thongh  not  covered  with  dense  masses  of  climbing 
plants,  like  those  in  moister  eastern  climates,  there  is  still 
the  idea  conveyed  that  most  of  the  steep  sides  are  fertile, 
and  none  give  the  impression  of  that  barrenness  which,  in 
northern  mountains,  suggests  the  idea,  that  the  bones  of 
the  world  are  sticking  through  its  skin. 

The  villagers  reported  that  we  were  on  the  footsteps  of 
a  Portuguese  half-caste,  who,  at  Senga,  lately  tried  to 
purchase  ivory,  but,  in  consequence  of  his  having  mur- 
dered a  Chief  near  Zumbo  and  twenty  of  his  men,  tlie 
people  declined  to  trade  with*  him.  He  threatened  to 
take  the  ivory  by  force,  if  they  would  not  sell  it ;  but  that 
same  night  the  ivory  and  the  women  were  spirited  out  of 
the  village,  and  only  a  large  body  of  armed  men  remained. 
The  trader,  fearing  that  he  might  come  off  second  best  if  it 
came  to  blows,  immediately  departed.  Chikwanitsela,  or  8e- 
kuanangila  is  the  paramount  Chief  of  some  fifty  miles  of  the 
northern  bank  of  the  Zambesi  in  this  locality.  He  lives  on 
the  opposite,  or  southern  side,  and  there  his  territory  is  still 
more  extensive.  We  sent  him  a  present  from  Senga,  and  were 
informed  by  a  messenger  next  morning  that  he  had  a  cough 
and  could  not  come  over  to  see  us.  "And  has  his  present  a 
cough  too,"  remarked  one  of  our  party,  "that  it  does  not  come 
to  us  ?  Is  this  the  way  your  Chief  treats  strangers,  receives 
their  present^  and  seuds  them  no  food  in  return?**  Our 
men  thought  Chikwanitsela  an  uncommonly  stingy  fellow ; 
but,  as  it  was  possible  that  some  of  them  might  yet  wish 
to  return  this  way,  they  did  not  like  to  scold  him  more 
than  this,  which  was  sufficiently  to  the  point 

Men  and  women  were  busily  engaged  in  preparing  the 
ground  for  the  November  planting.    Large  game  was  abun- 

o 


194  AFFLICTIONS  OF  BEASTS.  Chap.  IX. 

dant ;  herds  of  elephants  and  buffaloes  came  down  to  the  river 
in  the  night,  but  were  a  long  way  off  by  daylight.  They  soon 
adopt  this  habit  in  places  where  they  are  hunted. 

The  plains  we  travel  over  are  constantly  varying  in 
breadth,  according  as  the  farrowed  and  wooded  hills  approach 
or  recede  from  the  river.  On  the  southern  side  we  see  the 
hill  Bungwe,  and  the  long,  level,  wooded  ridge  Nyangombe, 
the  first  of  a  series  bending  from  the  S.  E.  to  the  N.W.  past 
the  ZambesL  We  shot  an  old  pallah  on  the  16thy  and 
found  that  the  poor  animal  had  been  visited  with  more 
than  the  usual  share  of  animal  afflictions.  He  was  stone- 
blind  in  both  eyes,  had  several  tumours,  and  a  broken 
leg,  which  showed  no  symptoms  of  ever  having  begun  to 
heal.  Wild  animals  sometimes  suffer  a  great  deal  from 
disease,  and  wearily  drag  on  a  miserable  existence  before 
relieved  of  it  by  some  ravenous  beast  Once  we  drove  off 
a  maneless  lion  and  lioness  from  a  dead  buffalo,  which  had 
been  in  the  last  stage  of  a  decline.  They  had  watched  him 
staggering  to  the  river  to  quench  his  thirsty  and  sprang 
on  him  as  he  was  crawling  up  the  bank.  One  had  caught  him 
by  the  throat,  and  the  other  by  his  high  projecting  backbone, 
which  was  broken  by  the  lion's  powerful  fangs.  The  struggle, 
if  any,  must  have  been  short.  They  had  only  eaten  the 
intestines  when  we  frightened  them  off.  It  is  curious  that  this 
is  the  part  that  wild  animals  always  begin  with,  and  that 
it  is  also  the  first  choice  of  our  men.  Were  it  not  a  wise 
arrangement  that  only  the  strongest  males  should  continue 
the  breed,  one  could  hardly  help  pitying  the  solitary  buffalo 
expelled  from  the  herd  for  some  physical  blemish,  or  on  account 
of  the  weakness  of  approaching  old  age.  Banished  from  the 
softening  influences  of  female  society,  he  naturally  becomes 
morose  and  savage ;  the  necessary  watchfulness  against  enemies 


Chap.  IX.  MPENDE.  195 

is  now  nerer  shared  by  others ;  disgusted,  he  passes  into  a  stato 
of  chronic  war  with  all  who  enjoy  life,  and  the  sooner  after  his 
expulsion  that  he  fiUs  the  lion's  or  the  wild-dog*s  maw,  the 
better  for  himself  and  for  the  peace  of  the  country.  Though 
we  are  not  disposed  to  be  didactic,  the  idea  of  a  crusty  old 
bachelor  or  of  a  cantankerous  husband  will  rise  up  in  our 
minds;  to  this  human  buffalo,  at  whose  approach  wife  and 
diildren,  or  poor  relations,  hold  their  breath  with  awe,  we 
cannot  extend  one  grain  of  pity ;  because  it  is  not  infirmity 
of  temper  this  brute  can  plead,  seeing  that,  when  in  the  herd 
with  his  equals,  he  is  invariably  polite,  and  only  exercises  his 
tyranny  when  with  those  who  cannot  thrash  him  into  decency. 
We  encamped  on  the  20th  of  June  at  a  spot,,  where  Dr. 
LdTingstone,  on  his  journey  from  the  West  to  the  East  Coast, 
was  formerly  menaced  by  a  Chief  named  Mpende.  No  offence 
had  been  committed  against  him,  but  he  had  firearms,  and,  with 
the  express  object  of  showing  his  power,  he  threatened  to  attack 
the  strangers.  Mpende's  counsellors  having,  however,  found 
out  that  Dr.  Livingstone  belonged  to  a  tribe  of  whom  they 
had  heard  that  *'  they  loved  the  black  man  and  did  not  make 
slaves,"  his  conduct  at  once  change^  from  enmity  to  kindness, 
and,  as  the  place  was  one  well  selected  for  defence,  it  was  per- 
haps quite  as  well  for  Mpende  that  he  decided  as  he  did. 
Three  of  his  counsellors  now  visited  us,  and  we  gave  them 
a  handsome  present  for  their  Chief,  who  came  himself  next 
morning  and  made  us  a  present  of  a  goat,  a  basket  of  boiled 
maize,  and  another  of  vetches.  A  few  miles  above  this,  the 
headman,  Chilondo  of  Nyamasusa,  apologized  for  not  formerly 
lending  us  canoes.  *'  He  was  absent,  and  his  children  were  to 
blame  for  not  telling  him  when  the  Doctor  passed ;  he  did  not 
refose  the  canoes."  The  sight  of  our  men,  now  armed  with 
muskets,  had  a  great  effect.    Without  any  bullying,  firearms 

0  2 


196  MONAHENG  MURDERED.  Chap.  IX. 

command  respect,  and  lead  men  to  be  reasonable  who  might 
otherwise  feel  disposed  to  be  troublesome.  Nothing,  however, 
our  fracas  with  Mpende  excepted,  could  be  more  peaceful 
than  our  passage  through  this  tract  of  country  in  1856.  We 
then  had  nothing  to  excite  the  cupidity  of  the  people,  and  the 
men  maintained  themselves,  either  by  selling  elephant's  meat, 
or  by  eichibiting  feats  of  foreign  dancing.  Most  of  the  people 
were  very  generous  and  friendly  ;  but  the  Banyai,  nearer  to 
Tette  than  this,  stopped  our  march  with  a  threatening  war- 
dance.  One  of  our  party,  terrified  at  this,  ran  away,  as 
we  thought,  insane,  and  could  not,  after  a  painful  search 
of  three  days,  be  found.  The  Banyai,  evidently  touched 
by  our  distress,  allowed  us  to  proceed.  Through  a  man  we 
left  on  an  island  a  little  below  Mpende's,  we  subsequently 
learned  that  poor  Monaheng  had  fled  thither  and  had  been 
murdered  by  the  headman  for  no  reason  except  that  he  was 
defenceless.  This  headman  had  since  become  odious  to  his 
countrymen,  and  had  been  put  to  death  by  them. 

Our  path  leads  frequently  through  vast  expanses  of 
apparently  solitary  scenery ;  a  strange  stillness  pervades  the 
air ;  no  sound  is  heard  frqm  bird  or  beast  or  living  thing ;  no 
village  is  near ;  the  air  is  still,  and  earth  and  sky  have  sunk 
into  a  deep,  sultry  repose,  and  like  a  lonely  ship  on  the  de- 
sert sea  is  the  long  winding  line  of  weary  travellers  on  the 
hot,  glaring  plain.  We  discover  that  we  are  not  alone  in  the 
wilderness ;  other  living  forms  are  round  about  us,  with  curious 
eyes  on  all  our  movements.  As  we  enter  a  piece  of  wood- 
land, an  unexpected  herd  of  pallahs,  or  waterbucks,  suddenly 
appears,  standing  as  quiet  and  still,  as  if  constituting  a  part 
of  the  landscape ;  or,  we  pass  a  clump  of  thick  thorns,  and 
see  through  the  bushes  the  dim  phantom-like  forms  of  buffaloes, 
their  heads  lowered,   gazing  at  us  with  fierce  untameable 


Chap.  IX.  PANGOLA.  197 

eyes.  Again  a  sharp  torn  brings  us  upon  a  native,  who  has 
seen  us  firom  afar,  and  comes  with  noiseless  footsteps'  to  get 
a  nearer  view. 

On  the  23rd  of  June  we  entered  Pangola's  principal  village, 
which  is  upwards  of  a  mile  from  the  river.  The  ruins  of  a  mud 
wall  showed  that  a  rude  attempt  had  been  made  to  imitate 
the  Portuguese  style  of  building.  We  established  ourselves 
under  a  stately  wild  fig-tree,  round  whose  trunk  witchcraft 
medicine  had  been  tied,  to  protect  from  thieves  the  honey  of 
the  wild  bees,  which  had  their  hive  in  one  of  the  limbs. 
This  is  a  common  device.  The  charm,  or  the  medicine,  is 
purchased  of  the  dice  doctors,  and  consists  of  a  strip  of  palm- 
leaf  smeared  with  something,  and  adorned  with  a  few  bits  of 
grass,  wood,  or  roots.  It  is  tied  round  the  tree,  and  is  believed  to 
have  the  power  of  inflicting  disease  and  death  on  the  thief  who 
climbs  over  it  Superstition  is  thus  not  without  its  uses  in 
certain  states  of  society  ;  it  prevents  many  crimes  and 
misdemeanors,  which  would  occur,  but  for  the  salutary  fear 
that  it  produces. 

Pangola  arrived,  tipsy  and  talkative. — "  We  are  friends,  we 
are  great  friends ;  I  have  brought  you  a  basket  of  green  maizo 
— here  it  is ! "  We  thanked  him,  and  handed  him  two  fathoms 
of  cotton  cloth,  four  times  the  market-value  of  his  present.  No, 
he  would  not  take  so  small  a  present ;  he  wanted  a  double- 
barrelled  rifle — one  of  Dixon's  best.  "  We  are  friends,  you 
know ;  we  are  all  friends  together."  But  although  we  were  will- 
ing to  admit  that,  we  could  not  give  him  our  best  rifle,  so  ho 
went  oif  in  high  dudgeon.  Early  next  morning,  as  we  were 
commencing  Divine  service,  Pangola  returned,  sober.  We 
explained  to  him  that  we  wished  to  worship  God,  and  invited 
him  to  remain ;  he  seemed  frightened  and  retired :  but  after 
.service  he  again  importuned  us  for  the  rifle.    It  was  of  no  uso 


198  FATE  OF  AFRICAN  EMPIRES.  Chap.  IX. 

telling  him  that  we  had  a  long  journey  before  us,  and  needed 
it  to  kill  game  for  ourselves. — ^*'He  too  must  obtain  meat  for 
himself  and  people,  for  they  sometimes  suffered  f5rom  hunger." 
He  then  got  sulky,  and  his  people  refused  to  sell  food  except 
at  extravagant  prices.  Knowing  that  we  had  nothing  to  eat, 
they  felt  sure  of  starving  us  into  compliance.  But  two  of  our 
young  men,  having  gone  off  at  sunrise,  shot  a  fine  waterbuck, 
and  down  came  the  provision  market  to  the  lowest  figure; 
they  even  became  eager  to  sell,  but  our  men  were  angry  with 
them  for  trying  compulsion,  and  would  not  buy.  Black  greed 
had  outwitted  itself,  as  happens  often  with  white  cupidity ;  and 
not  only  here  did  the  traits  of  Africans  remind  us  of  Anglo- 
Saxons  elsewhere:  the  notoriously  ready  world-wide  dispo- 
sition to  take  an  unfair  advantage  of  a  man's  necessities 
shows  that  the  same  mean  motives  are  pretty  widely  dif- 
fused among  all  races.  It  may  not  be  granted  that  the  same 
blood  flows  in  all  veins,  or  that  all  have  descended  firom  the 
same  stock ;  but  the  traveller  has  no  doubt  that,  practically, 
the  white  rogue  and  black  are  men  and  brothers. 

Pangola  is  the  child  or  vassal  of  Mpende.  Sandia  and 
Mpende  are  the  only  independent  chiefs  from  Eebrabasa  to 
Zumbo,  and  belong  to  the  tribe  Manganja.  The  country 
north  of  the  mountains  here  in  sight  from  the  Zambesi  is 
called  Senga,  and  its  inhabitants  Asenga,  or  Basenga,  but  all 
appear  to  be  of  the  same  family  as  the  rest  of  the  Man- 
ganja and  Maravi.  Formerly  all  the  Manganja  were 
united  under  the  government  of  their  great  Chief,  Undi, 
whose  Empire  extended  from  Lake  Shirwa  to  the  Eiver 
Loangwa;  but  after  Undi's  death  it  fell  to  pieces,  and  a 
large  portion  of  it  on  the  Zambesi  was  absorbed  by  their 
powerful  southern  neighbours  the  Banyai.  Tliis  has  been 
the  inevitable  fate  of  every  African  Empire  from  time  imme* 


Chap.  IX.  AFRICAN  INDUSTRY.  199 

moriaL  A  Chief  of  more  than  ordinary  ability  arises  and, 
subduing  all  his  less  powerful  neighbours,  founds  a 
kingdom,  which  he  governs  more  or  less  wisely  till  he  dies. 
His  successor  not  having  the  talents  of  the  conqueror  cannot 
retain  the  dominion,  and  some  of  the  abler  under-chiefs  set  up 
for  themselves,  and,  in  a  few  years,  the  remembrance  only  of 
the  Empire  remains.  This,  which  may  be  considered  as  the 
normal  state  of  African  society,  gives  rise  to  frequent  and 
desolating  wars,  and  the  people  long  in  vain  for  a  power  able 
to  make  all  dwell  in  peace.  In  this  light,  a  European  colony 
would  be  considered  by  the  natives  as  an  inestimable  boon  to 
intertropical  Afiica.  Thousands  of  industrious  natives  would 
gladly  settle  round  it,  and  engage  in  that  peaceful  pursuit  of 
agriculture  and  trade  of  which  they  are  so  fond,  and,  undis- 
tracted  by  wars  or  rumours  of  wars,  might  listen  to  the 
purifying  and  ennobh'ng  truths  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 
The  Manganja  on  the  Zambesi,  like  their  countrymen  on 
the  Shire,  are  fond  of  agriculture ;  and,  in  addition  to  the 
usual  varieties  of  food,  cultivate  tobacco  and  cotton  in 
quantities  more  than  equal  to  their  wants.  To  the 
question,  **  Would  they  work  for  Europeans  ?  "  an  affirmative 
answer  may  be  given,  if  the  Europeans  belong  to  the  class 
which  can  pay  a  reasonable  price  for  labour,  and  not  to  that  of 
adventurers  who  want  employment  for  themselves.  All  were 
particularly  well  clothed  from  Sandia's  to  Fangola's ;  and  it 
was  noticed  that  all  the  cloth  was  of  native  manufacture,  the 
product  of  their  own  looms.  In  Senga  a  great  deal  of  iron 
is  obtained  from  the  ore  and  manufactured  very  cleverly. 

As  is  customary  when  a  party  of  armed  strangers  visits  the 
village,  Pangola  took  the  precaution  of  sleeping  in  one  of 
the  outlying  hamlets.  No  one  ever  knows,  or  at  any  rate 
will  tell,  where  the  Chief  sleeps.    He  came  not  next  morn- 


200  DRUNKEN  FERRY-MEN.  Chap.  IX. 

ing,  so  we  went  on  our  way ;  but  in  a  few  moments  we  saw 
the  rifle-loving  Chief  approaching  with  some  armed  men. 
Before  meeting  us,  he  left  the  path  and  drew  up  his  **  follow- 
ing" under  a  tree,  expecting  us  to  halt,  and  give  him  a 
chance  of  bothering  us  again ;  but,  having  already  had 
enough  of  that,  we  held  right  on:  he  seemed  dumb- 
foundered,  and  could  hardly  believe  his  own  eyes.  For  a  few 
seconds  he  was  speechless,  but  at  last  recovered  so  far  as  to 
be  able  to  say,  "  You  are  passing  Pangola.  Do  not  you  see 
Pangola?"  Mbia  was  just  going  by  at  the  time  with  the 
donkey,  and,  proud  of  every  opportunity  of  airing  his  small 
stock  of  English,  shouted  in  reply,  "All  right!  then  get 
on."  "Click,  click,  click."  This  fellow,  Pangola,  would 
have  annoyed  and  harassed  a  trader  until  his  unrea- 
sonable demands  were  complied  with. 

On  the  26th  June  we  breakfasted  at  l^umbo,  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  Loangwa,  near  the  ruins  of  some  ancient  Portuguese 
houses.  The  Loangwa  was  too  deep  to  be  forded,  and  there  were 
no  canoes  on  our  sida  Seeing  two  small  ones  on  the  opposite 
shore,  near  a  few  recently-erected  huts  of  two  half-castes  from 
Tette,  we  halted  for  the  ferry-men  to  come  over.  From  their 
movements  it  was  evident  that  they  were  in  a  state  of 
rollicking  drunkenness.  Having  a  waterproof  cloak,  which 
could  be  inflated  into  a  tiny  boat,  we  sent  Mantlanyane  across 
in  it«  Three  half-intoxicated  slaves  then  brought  us  the  shaky 
canoes,  which  we  lashed  together  and  manned  with  our  own 
canoe-men.  Five  men  were  all  that  we  could  carry  over  at 
a  time;  and  after  four  trips  had  been  made  the  slaves 
began  to  clamour  for  drink ;  not  receiving  any,  as  we  had 
none  to  give,  they  grew  more  insolent,  and  declared 
that  not  another  man  should  cross  that  day.  Sininyane  was 
remonstrating  with  them,  when  a  loaded  musket  was  pre- 


Chap.  IX.  RESULTS  OF  NO  GOVERNMENT.  201 

sented  at  him  by  one  of  the  trio.  In  an  instant  the  gun  was 
out  of  the  rascal's  hands,  a  rattling  shower  of  blows  fell  on 
his  back,  and  he  took  an  involuntary  header  into  the  river.  He 
crawled  up  the  bank  a  sad  and  sober  man,  and  all  three  at  once 
tumbled  from  the  height  of  saucy  swagger  to  a  low  depth  of 
slavish  abjectness.  The  musket  was  found  to  have  an  enormous 
charge,  and  might  have  blown  our  man  to  pieces,  but  for  the 
promptitude  with  which  his  companions  administered  justice 
in  a  lawless  land.  We  were  all  ferried  safely  across  by 
8  o'clock  in  the  evening. 

In  illustration  of  what  takes  place  where  no  govern- 
ment, or  law  exists,  the  two  half-castes,  to  whom  these  men 
belonged,  left  Tette,  with  four  hundred  slaves,  armed  with 
the  old  Sepoy  Brown  Bess,  to  hunt  elephants  and  trade 
in  ivory.  On  our  way  up,  we  heard  from  natives  of  their 
lawless  deeds,  and  again,  on  our  way  down,  from  several, 
who  had  been  eyewitnesses  of  the  principal  crime,  and  all 
reports  substantially  agreed.  The  story  is  a  sad  one.  After 
the  traders  reached  Zumbo,  one  of  them,  called  by  the  natives 
Sequasha,  entered  into  a  plot  with  the  disaffected  headman, 
Namakusuru,  to  kill  his  Chief,  Mpangwe,  in  order  that  Nama- 
kusuru  might  seize  upon  the  chieftainship;  and  for  the  murder 
of  Mpangwe,  the  trader  agreed  to  receive  ten  large  tusks  of 
ivory.  Sequasha,  with  a  picked  party  of  armed  slaves,  went 
to  visit  Mpangwe,  who  received  him  kindly,  and  treated  him 
with  all  the  honour  and  hospitedity  usually  shown  to  distin- 
guished strangers,  and  the  women  busied  themselves  in  cook- 
ing the  best  of  their  provisions  for  the  repast  to  be  set  before 
hinL  Of  this,  and  also  of  the  beer,  the  half-caste  partook 
heartily.  Mpangwe  was  then  asked  by  Sequasha  to  allow  his 
men  to  fire  their  guns  in  amusement.  Innocent  of  any  suspi- 
cion of  treachery,  and  anxious  to  hear  the  report  of  firearms. 


202  SEQDASHA.  Chap.  IX. 

Mpangwe  at  once  gave  his  consent ;  and  the  slaves  rose  and 
poured  a  murderous  volley  into  the  merry  group  of  unsuspect- 
ing spectators,  instantly  killing  the  chief  and  twenty  of  Ins 
people.    The  survivors  fled  in  horror.    The  children  and  young 
women  were  seized  as  slaves,  and  the  village  sacked.   Sequasha 
sent  the  message  to  Namakusuru :   ^^  I  have  killed  the  lion 
that  troubled  you,  come  and  let  us  talk  over  the  matter."    He 
came,   and  brought  the  ivory;  "No,"  said  the  half-caste, 
"  let  us  divide  the  land :"  and  he  took  the  larger  share  for 
himself,  and  compelled  the  would-be  usurper  to  deliver  up 
his  bracelets,  in  token  of  subjection  on  becoming  the  child 
or  vassal  of  Sequasha.    These  were  sent  in  triumph  to  the 
authorities  at  Tette.    The  Governor  of  Quillimane  had  told 
us  that  he  had  received  orders  from  Lisbon  to  take  advantage 
of  our  passing  to  re-establish  Zumbo ;  and,  accordingly,  these 
traders  had  built  a  small  stockade  on  the  rich  plain  of  the 
right  bank  of  Loangwa,  a  mile  above  the  site  of  the  ancient 
mission  church  of  Zumbo,  as  part  of  the  royal  policy.     The 
bloodshed  was  quite  unnecessary,  because,  the  land  at  Zumbo 
having  of  old  been  purchased,  the  natives  would  have  €J>vay8 
of  their  own  accord  acknowledged  the  right  thus  acquired ; 
they  pointed  it  out  to  Dr.  Livingstone  in  1856  that,  though 
they  were  cultivating  it,  it  was  not  theirs,  but  white  man's 
land.    Sequasha  and  his  mate  had  left  then:  ivory  in  charge  of 
some  of  their  slaves,  who,  in  the  absence  of  their  masters, 
were  now  having  a  gay  time  of  it,  and  getting  drunk  every 
day  with  the  produce  of  the  sacked  villages.    The  head  slave 
came  and  begged  for  the  musket  of  the  delinquent  ferry- 
man, which  was  returned.    He  thought  his  master  did  per- 
fectly right  to  kill  Mpangwe,  when  asked  to  do  it  for  the  fee 
of  ten  tusks,  and  he  even  justified  it  thus :  ^  If  a  man  invites 
you  to  eat,  will  you  not  partake  ?  " 


Chap.  X.  CHURCH  IN  RUINS.  '  203 


CHAPTER   X. 

Beautiful  situation  of  Zumbo  —  Cliaroh  in  mins  —  WLy  have  the  Oatholic 
Misedona  &iled  to  perpetuate  the  Faith? — Ma-mburuma — Anti-slayery 
principles,  a  recommendation  —  Jujubes — Tsetse  —  Dr.  Kirk  dangerously 
ill  in  the  mountain  forest — Our  men's  feats  of  hunting  —  Hyenas — 
Honey-guides — Instinct  o^  how  to  be  accounted  Ibr,  self*intercst  or  friend- 
ship? — A  serpent — Mpangwe's  village  deserted — Large  game  abundant 
— Difference  of  flavour  io  —  Bights  seen  in  marching  —  "Smokes"  from 
grass-burnings  —  River  Chongwe  —  Baziznlu  and  their  superior  cotton  — 
Escape  from  rhinoceros  —  The  wild  dog — Families  flitting  —  Tombanyama 
—  Confluence  of  the  Kafue. 

We  remained  a  day  by  the  ruins  of  Zumbo.  The  early 
traders,  guided  probably  by  Jesuit  missionaries,  must  have 
been  men  of  taste  and  sagacity.  They  selected  for  their 
Tillage  the  most  charmingly  picturesque  site  in  the  country, 
and  had  reason  to  hope  that  it  would  soon  be  enriched  by  the 
lucrative  trade  of  the  rivers  Zambesi  and  Loangwa  pouring 
into  it  from  north  and  west,  and  by  the  gold  and  ivory  of  the 
Manica  country  on  the  south.  The  Portuguese  of  the  present 
day  have  certainly  reason  to  be  proud  of  the  enterprise  of  their 
ancestors.  If  ever  in  the  Elysian  fields  the  conversation  of 
these  ancient  and  honourable  men,  who  dared  so  much  for 
Christianity,  turns  on  their  African  descendants,  it  will  be 
difficult  for  them  to  reciprocate  the  feeling.  The  chapel,  near 
which  lies  a  broken  church  bell,  commands  a  glorious  view 
of  the  two  noble  rivers, — the  green  fields — ^the  undulating 
forest — ^the  pleasant  hills,  and  the  magnificent  mountains  in 
the  distance.  It  is  an  utter  ruin  now,  and  desolation  broods 
around.     The  wild  bird,  disturbed  by  the  unwonted  sound 


204  MISSIONARY  FAILURE.  Chap.  X 

of  approaching  footsteps,  rises  with  a  harsh  scream.  Thorn- 
bushes,  mckrked  with  the  ravages  of  white  ants,  rank  grass 
with  prickly  barbed  seeds,  and  noxious  weeds,  overrun  the 
whole  place.  The  foul  hyena  has  defiled  the  sanctuary, 
and  the  midnight-owl  has  perched  on  its  crumbling  walls,  to 
disgorge  the  imdigested  renmant  of  its  prey.  One  can 
scarcely  look  without  feelings  of  sadness  on  the  utter  desola- 
tion of  a  place  where  men  have  met  to  worship  the  Supreme 
Being,  or  have  united  in  uttering  the  magnificent  words, 
"  Thou  art  the  King  of  glory,  O  Christ ! "  and  remember,  that 
the  natives  of  this  part  know  nothing  of  His  religion,  not  even 
His  name;  a  strange  superstition  makes  them  shun  this 
sacred  place,  as  men  do  the  pestilence,  and  they  never  come 
near  it.  Apart  from  the  ruins,  there  is  nothing  to  remind  one 
that  a  Christian  power  ever  had  traders  here ;  for  the  natives 
of  to-day  are  precisely  what  their  fathers  were,  when  the 
Portuguese  first  rounded  the  Cape.  Their  language,  unless 
buried  in  the  Vatican,  is  still  unwritten.  Not  a  single  art, 
save  that  of  distilling  spirits  by  means  of  a  gun-barrel,  has 
ever  been  learnt  from  the  strangers ;  and,  if  all  the  progeny 
of  the  whites  were  at  once  to  leave  the  country,  their  only 
memorial  would  be  the  ruins  of  a  few  stone  and  mud-built 
walls,  and  that  blighting  relic  of  the  slave-trade,  the  belief 
that  man  may  sell  Iiis  brother  man;  a  belief  which  is  not 
of  native  origin,  for  it  is  not  found  except  in  the  track  of 
die  Portuguese. 

Since  the  early  Missionaries  were  not  wanting  in  either 
visdom  or  enterprise,  it  would  be  intensely  interesting  to 
know  the  exact  cause  of  their  failing  to  perpetuate  their 
Faith.  Our  observation  of  the  operations  of  the  systems, 
whether  of  native  or  of  European  origin,  which  sanction 
jslavery,  tends  to  prove  that  they  only  perpetuate  barbarism. 


Chap.  X.  MA-MBURDMA.  205 

Baids  liketliat  of  Sequasha, — alsoof  Simoens,  who  carried  hi» 
foray  up  the  river  as  far  as  Kariba, — and  many  others,  hare 
exactly  the  same  effect  as  the  normal  native  policy  already 
mentioned :  one  tract  of  country  is  devastated  after  another, 
and  the  slave-hunter  attains  great  wealth  and  influence. 
Pereira,  the  founder  of  Zumbo,  gloried  in  being  called  "  the 
Terror."  If  the  scourge  is  not  fleeced  by  some  needy  Governor, 
his  wealth  is  usually  scattered  to  the  winds  by  the  children 
of  mixed  breed  who  succeed  him.  Can  it  be  that  the  Mis- 
sionaries of  old,  like  many  good  men  formerly  among  ourselves, 
tolerated  this  system  of  slave-making,  which  inevitably  leads 
to  warfare,  and  thus  failed  to  obtain  influence  over  the 
natives  by  not  introducing  another  policy  than  that  which 
had  prevailed  for  ages  before  they  came  ? 

We  continued  our  journey  on  the  28th  of  June.  Game 
was  extremely  abundant,  and  there  were  many  lions.  Mbia 
drove  one  off  from  his  feast  on  a  wild  pig,  and  appropriated 
what  remained  of  the  pork  to  his  own  use.  Lions  are 
particularly  fond  of  the  flesh  of  wild  pigs  and  zebras^  and 
contrive  to  kill  a  large  number  of  these  animals.  In  the 
afternoon  we  arrived  at  the  village  of  the  female  Chief, 
Ma-mburuma,  but  she  herself  was  now  living  on  the  oppo* 
site  side  of  the  river.  Some  of  her  people  called,  and  said 
she  had  been  frightened  by  seeing  her  son  and  other 
children  killed  by  Sequasha,  and  had  fled  to  the  other  bank ; 
but  when  her  heart  was  healed,  she  would  return  and  live 
in  her  own  village,  and  among  her  own  people.  She  con- 
stantly inquired  of  the  black  traders,  who  came  up  the  river, 
if  they  had  any  news  of  the  white  man  who  passed  with  the 
oxen.  **  He  has  gone  down  into  the  sea,"  was  their  reply, 
"but  we  belong  to  the  same  people."  **0h,  no ;  you  need 
not  tell  me  thfit ;  he  takes  no  slaves,  but  wishes  peace :  you 


206  JUJUBE— TSETSE.  Chat.  X. 

are  not  of  his  tribe."  This  anti-slavery  character  excites  such 
universal  attention,  that  any  Missionary,  who  winked  at  the 
gigantic  evils  involved  in  the  slave-trade,  would  certainly  fiiil 
to  produce  any  good  impression  on  the  native  mind. 

We  left  the  river  here,  and  proceeded  up  the  valley  which 
leads  to  the  Mburuma  or  Mohango  pass.  The  nights  were 
cold,  and  on  the  30th  of  June  the  thermometer  was  as  low 
as  39°  at  sunrise.  We  passed  through  a  village  of  twenty 
large  huts,  which  Sequasha  had  attacked  on  his  return 
fix)m  the  murder  of  the  Chief,  Mpangwe.  He  caught  the 
women  and  children  for  slaves,  and  carried  oflf  all  the  food, 
except  a  huge  basket  of  bran,  which  the  natives  are  wont  to 
save  against  a  time  of  famine.  His  slaves  had  broken  all  the 
water-pots  and  the  millstones  for  grinding  meal 

The  buaze-trees  and  bamboos  are  now  seen  on  the  hills; 
but  the  jujube  or  zisyphus,  which  has  evidently  been  intn> 
duced  from  India,  extends  no  further  up  the  river.  We 
had  been  eating  this  fruit,  which,  having  somewhat  the 
taste  of  apples,  the  Portuguese  call  Ma^aas,  all  the  way  from 
Tette ;  and  here  they  were  larger  than  usual,  though  imme- 
diately beyond  they  ceased  to  be  found.  No  mango-tree  either 
is  to  be  met  with  beyond  this  point,  because  the  Portuguese 
traders  never  established  themselves  anywhere  beyond 
Zimibo.  Tsetse  flies  are  more  numerous  and  troublesome  than 
we  have  ever  before  found  them.  They  accompany  us  on  the 
march,  often  buzzing  round  our  heads  like  a  swarm  of  bees. 
They  are  very  cunning,  and  when  intending  to  bite,  alight 
so  gently  that  their  presence  is  not  perceived  till  they  thrust 
in  their  lance-like  proboscia  The  bite  is  acute,  but  the  pain 
is  over  in  a  moment;  it  is  followed  by  a  little  of  the  dis- 
agreeable itching  of  the  musquito's  bite.  This  fly  invariably 
kills  all  domestic  am'mals  except  goats  and  donkeys;  man  and 


Ceap.  X.  ILLNESS  OF  DR.  KIRK.  207 

the  wild  animals  escape.    We  ourselves  were  severely  bitten 
on  this  pass,  and  so  were  our  donkeys^  but  neither  suffered  from 

any  after  effects. 

Water  is  scarce  in  the  Mburuma  pass,  except  during  the 
rainy  season.  We  however  halted  beside  some  fine  springs  in 
the  bed  of  the  now  dry  rivulet,  Podebode,  which  is  continued 
down  to  the  end  of  the  pass,  and  yields  water  at  intervals  in 
pools.  Here  we  remained  a  couple  of  days  in  consequence 
of  the  severe  illness  of  Dr.  Kirk.  Ho  had  several  times  been 
attacked  by  fever ;  and  observed  that  when  we  were  on  the 
cobl  heights  he  was  comfortable,  but  when  we  happened  to 
descend  from  a  high  to  a  lower  altitude,  he  felt  chilly,  though 
the  temperature  in  the  latter  case  was  25°  higher  than  it  was 
above ;  he  had  been  trying  different  medicines  of  reputed 
efficacy  with  a  view  to  ascertain  whether  other  combinations 
might  not  be  superior  to  the  preparation  we  generally  used  ; 
in  halting  by  this  water,  he  suddenly  became  blind,  and  un- 
able to  stand  from  faintness.  The  men,  with  great  alacrity, 
prepared  a  grassy  bed,  on  which  we  laid  our  companion, 
with  the  sad  forebodings  which  only  those  who  have  tended 
the  sick  in  a  wild  country  can  realize.  We  feared  that 
in  experimenting  he  had  overdrugged  himself;  but  we  gave 
him  a  dose  of  our  fever  pills ;  on  the  third  day  he  rode  the  one 
of  the  two  donkeys  that  would  allow  itself  to  be  mounted, 
and  on  the  sixth  he  marched  as  well  as  any  of  us.  This  case 
is  mentioned  in  order  to  illustrate  what  we  have  often 
observed,  that  moving  the  patient  from  place  to  place  is  most 
conducive  to  the  cure;  and  the  more  pluck  a  man  has — ^tlie 
less  he  gives  in  to  the  disease — ^the  less  likely  he  is  to  die. 

Supplied  with  water  by  the  pools  in  the  Podebode,  we  again 
joined  the  Zambesi  at  the  confluence  of  the  rivulet.  When 
passing  through  a  dry  district  the  native  hunter  knows  where  to 


208  HUNTING  THE  BUFFALO.  Chap.  X. 

expect  water  by  thp  animals  he  sees.  The  presence  of  the 
gemsbuck,  duiker  or  diver,  springbucks,  or  elephants,  is  no 
proof  that  water  is  near ;  for  these  animals  roam  over  vast  tracts 
of  country,  and  may  be  met  scores  of  miles  from  it.  Not  so, 
however,  the  zebra,  pallah,  buffalo,  and  rhinoceros ;  their  spoor 
gives  assurance  that  water  is  not  far  off,  as  they  never  stray 
any  distance  from  its  neighbourhood.  But  when  amidst 
the  solemn  stillness  of  the  woods,  the  singing  of  joyous 
birds  falls  upon  the  ear,  it  is  certain  that  water  is  close  at 
hand.  While  waiting  here,  under  a  great  tamarind-tree,  we 
heard  many  new  and  pleasant  songs  from  strange  Uttle  birds, 
with  the  love-notes  of  pigeons,  in  the  trees  overhanging  these 
living  springs. 

Our  men  in  hunting  came  on  an  immense  herd  of  bufia- 
loes,  quietly  resting  in  the  long  dry  grass,  and  began  to 
blaze  away  fririously  at  the  astonished  animals.  In  the 
wild  excitement  of  the  hunt,  which  heretofore  had  been 
conducted  with  spears,  some  forgot  to  load  with  ball,  and, 
firing  away  vigorously  with  powder  only,  wondered  for  the 
moment  that  the  buffaloes  did  not  fall.  The  slayer  of  the 
young  elephant,  having  buried  his  four  bullets  in  as  many 
buffaloes,  fired  three  charges  of  number  1  shot  he  had  for 
killing  guinea-fowl.  The  quaint  remarks  and  merriment 
after  these  little  adventures  seemed  to  the  listener  like 
the  pleasant  prattle  of  children.  Mbia  and  Mantlanyane, 
however,  killed  one  buffalo  each ;  both  the  beasts  were  in  prime 
condition;  the  meat  was  like  really  excellent  beef,  with  a 
smack  of  venison.  A  troop .  of  hungry,  howling  hyenas  also 
thought  the  savour  tempting,  as  they  hung  round  the  camp 
at  night,  anxious  to  partake  of  the  feast.  They  are,  fortu- 
nately, arrant  cowards,  and  never  attack  either  men  or  beasts, 
except  they  can  catch  them  asleep,  sick,  or  at  some  other 


Chap.  X.  THE  HONEY-GUIDE.  209 

disadvantage.  With  a  bright  fire  at  our  feet  their  presence 
excites  no  uneasiness.  A  piece  of  meat  hung  on  a  tree,  high 
enough  to  make  him  jump  to  reach  it,  and  a  short  spear, 
with  its  handle  firmly  planted  in  tlie  ground  beneath,  are 
used  as  a  device  to  induce  the  hyena  to  commit  suicide  by 
impalement. 

The  honey-guide  is  an  extraordinary  bird  ;  how  is  it 
that  every  member  of  its  family  has  learned  that  all 
men,  white  or  black,  are  fond  of  honey?  The  instant  the 
little  fellow  gets  a  glimpse  of  a  man,  he  hastens  to  greet  him 
Avith  the  hearty  invitation  to  come,  as  Mbia  translated  it,  to 
a  bees'  hive,  and  take  some  honey.  He  flies  on  in  the 
proper  direction,  perches  on  a  tree,  and  looks  back  to  see  if 
you  are  following ;  then  on  to  another  and  another,  until  he 
guides  you  to  the  spot.  If  you  do  not  accept  his  first 
invitation  he  follows  you  with  pressing  importunities,  quite 
as  anxious  to  lure  the  stranger  to  the  bees*  hive  as  other 
birds  are  to  draw  him  away  from  their  own  nests.  Except  while 
on  the  march,  our  men  were  sure  to  accept  the  invitation, 
and  manifested  the  same  by  a  peculiar  responsive  whistle, 
meaning,  as  they  said,  "AU  right,  go  ahead;  we  are  coming." 
The  bird  never  deceived  them,  but  always  guided  them  to  a  hive 
of  bees,  though  some  had  but  little  honey  in  store.  Has  this 
peculiar  habit  of  the  honey-guide  its  origin,  as  the  attachment 
of  dogs,  in  friendship  for  man,  or  in  love  for  the  sweet  pickings 
of  the  plunder  left  on  the  ground  ?  Self-interest  aiding  in  pre- 
servation from  danger  seems  to  be  the  rule  in  most  cases,  as, 
for  instance,  in  the  bird  that  guards  the  buffalo  and  rhinoceros. 
The  grass  is  often  so  tall  and  dense  that  one  could  go  close  up 
to  these  animals  quite  unperceived  ;  but  the  guardian  bird, 
sitting  on  the  beast,  sees  the  approach  of  danger,  flaps  its  wings 
and  screams,  which  causes  its  bulky  charge  to  rush  off  from  a 

p 


210  ABUNDANCE  OF  GAME.  Chap.  X. 

foe  he  has  neither  seen  nor  heard ;  for  his  reward  the  vigilant 
little  watcher  has  the  pick  of  the  parasites  of  his  fat  friend. 
In  other  cases  a  chance  of  escape  must  be  given  even  by  the 
animal  itself  to  its  prey ;  as  in  the  rattle-snake,  which,  when 
excited  to  strike,  cannot  avoid  using  his  rattle,  any  more  than 
the  cat  can  resist  curling  its  tail  when  excited  in  the  chase  of 
a  mouse,  or  the  cobra  can  refrtun  from  inflating  the  loose  skin 
of  the  neck  and  extending  it  laterally,  before  striking  its 
poison  fangs  into  its  victim.  There  were  many  snakes 
in  parts  of  this  pass ;  they  basked  in  the  warm  sunshine,  but 
rustled  off  through  the  leaves  as  we  approached.  We  ob- 
served one  morning  a  smaU  one  of  a  deadly  poisonous  species, 
named  Kakone,  on  a  bush  by  the  way-side,  quietly  resting 
in  a  horizontal  position,  digesting  a  lizard  for  breakfast. 
Though  openly  in  view,  its  colours  and  curves  so  closely 
resembled  a  small  branch  that  some  failed  to  see  it>  even 
after  being  asked  if  they  perceived  anything  on  the  bush. 
Here  also  one  of  our  number  had  a  glance  at  another  species, 
rarely  seen,  and  whose  swift  lightning-like  motion  has  given 
rise  to  the  native  proverb,  that  when  a  man  sees  this  snake 
he  will  forthwith  become  a  rich  man. 

We  slept  near  the  ruined  village  of  the  murdered  chiefi 
Mpangwe,  a  lovely  spot,  with  the  Zambesi  in  front,  and  exten- 
sive gardens  behind,  backed  by  a  semicircle  of  hills,  receding  up 
to  lofty  mountains.  Our  path  kept  these  moimtains  on  our 
right,  and  crossed  several  streamlets,  which  seemed  to  be 
perennial,  and  among  others  the  Selole,  which  apparently 
flows  past  the  prominent  peak  Chiarapela.  These  rivulets 
have  often  human  dwellings  on  their  banks;  but  the  land 
can  scarcely  be  said  to  be  occupied.  The  number  of  all 
sorts  of  game  increases  wonderfully  every  day.  As  a  speci- 
men of  what  may  be  met  with  where  there  are  no  human 


Chap.  X.  ANNOYED  WITH  TSETSE.  211 

habitations,  and  where  no  fiiearmB  have  been  introdaced, 
we  may  mention  what  at  times  has  actually  been  seen 
by  us.  On  the  morning  of  July  3rd  a  herd  of  elephants 
passed  within  fifty  yards  of  our  sleeping-place,  going  down 
to  the  river  along  the  dry  bed  of  a  rivulet  Starting 
a  few  minutes  before  the  main  body,  we  come  upon  large 
flocks  of  guinea-fowl,  shoot  what  may  be  wanted  for  dinner, 
or  next  morning's  breakfast,  and  leave  them  in  the  path 
to  be  picked  up  by  the  cook  and  his  mates  behind.  As 
we  proceed,  francolins  of  three  varieties  run  across  the  path, 
and  hundreds  of  turtle-doves  rise,  with  great  blatter  of  wing, 
and  fly  off  to  the  trees.  Guinea-fowls,  francolins,  turtle- 
doves, ducks,  and  geese  are  the  game  birds  of  this  region. 
At  sunrise  a  herd  of  pallahs,  standing  like  a  flock  of  sheep, 
allow  the  first  man  of  our  long  Indian  file  to  approach  within 
about  fifty  yards;  but  having  meat,  we  let  them  trot  off 
leisurely  and  unmolested.  Soon  afterwards  we  come  upon  a 
herd  of  waterbucks,  which  here  are  very  much  darker  in 
colour,  and  drier  in  flesh,  than  the  same  species  near  the  sea. 
They  look  at  us  and  we  at  them ;  and  we  pass  on  to  see  a 
herd  of  doe  koodoos,  with  a  magnificently  homed  buck  or  two, 
hurrying  off  to  the  dry  hill-sides.  We  have  ceased  shooting 
antelopes,  as  our  men  have  been  so  often  gorged  with  meat 
that  they  have  become  fat  and  dainty.  They  say  that  they 
do  not  want  more  venison,  it  is  so  dry  and  tasteless,  and 
ask  why  we  do  not  give  them  shot  to  shoot  the  more  savoury 
guinearfowl. 

About  eight  o'clock  the  tsetse  commence  to  buzz  about 
us,  and  bite  our  hands  and  necks  sharply.  Just  as  we 
are  thinking  of  breakfast,  we  meet  some  buffaloes  grazing 
by  the  path ;  but  they  make  off  in  a  heavy  gallop  at  the 
sight  of  man.    We  fire,  and  the  foremost,  badly  woimded, 

p  2 


212  ZEBRAS— WILD  PIGS.  Chap.  X. 

separates  from  the  herd,  and  is  seen  to  stop  amon^t  the 
trees;  but,  as  it  is  a  matter  of  great  danger  to  follow 
a  wounded  buffalo,  we  hold  on  our  way.  It  is  this 
losing  of  wounded  animals  which  makes  firearms  so  an- 
nihilating to  these  beasts  of  the  field,  and  will  in  time 
sweep  them  all  away.  The  small  Enfield  bullet  is  worse 
than  the  old  round  one  for  this.  It  often  goes  through 
an  animal  without  killing  him,  and  he  afterwards  perishes, 
when  he  is  of  no  value  to  man.  After  breakfast  we  draw 
near  a  pond  of  water,  a  couple  of  elephants  stand  on  its 
bank,  and,  at  a  respectful  distance  behind  these  monarchs 
of  the  wilderness,  is  seen  a  herd  of  zebras,  and  another  of 
waterbucks.  On  getting  our  wind  the  royal  beasts  make  off 
at  once ;  but  the  zebras  remain  till  the  foremost  man  is 
\vithin  eighty  yards  of  them,  when  old  and  young  canter 
gracefully  away.  The  zebra  has  a  great  deal  of  curiosity ; 
and  this  is  often  fetal  to  him,  for  he  has  the  habit  of  stopping 
to  look  at  the  hunter.  In  this  particular  he  is  the  exact  oppo- 
site of  the  diver  antelope,  which  rushes  off  like  the  wind,  and 
never  for  a  moment  stops  to  look  behind,  after  having  once 
seen  or  smelt  danger.  The  finest  zebra  of  the  herd  is 
sometimes  shot,  our  men  having  taken  a  sudden  fency  to  the 
flesh,  which  all  declare  to  be  the  "  king  of  good  meat."  On 
the  plains  of  short  grass  between  us  and  the  river  many 
antelopes  of  different  species  are  calmly  grazing,  or 
reposing.  Wild  pigs  are  common,  and  walk  abroad 
during  the  day ;  but  are  so  shy  as  seldom  to  allow  a  close 
approach.  On  taking  alarm  they  erect  their  slender  taib  in 
the  air,  and  trot  off  swiftly  in  a  straight  line,  keeping  their 
bodies  as  steady  as  a  locomotive  on  a  railroad.  A  mile 
beyond  the  pool  three  cow  buffaloes  with  their  calves  come 
from  the  woods,  and  move  out  into  the  plain.    A  troop  of 


Chap.  X.  "  SMOKES  *•— BAZIZULU.  213 

monkeys,  on  the  edge  of  the  forest,  scamper  back  to  ite  depths 
on  hearing  the  loud  song  of  Singeleka,  and  old  surly  fellows, 
catching  sight  of  the  human  party,  insult  it  with  a  loud  and 
angry  bark.  Early  in  the  afternoon  we  may  se^  buffaloes 
again,  or  other  animals.  We  camp  on  the  dry  higher 
ground,  after,  as  has  happened,  driving  off  a  solitary 
elephant  The  nights  are  warmer  now,  and  possess  nearly 
as  much  of  interest  and  novelty  as  the  days.  A  new  world 
awakes  and  comes  forth,  more  numerous,  if  we  may  judge 
by  the  noise  it  makes,  than  that  which  is  abroad  by  sun- 
Ught.  Lions  and  hyenas  roar  around  us,  and  sometimes  come 
disagreeably  near,  though  they  have  never  ventured  into  our 
midst  Strange  birds  sing  their  agreeable  songs,  whQe  others 
scream  and  call  harshly  as  if  in  fear  or  anger.  Marvellous 
insect-sounds  fall  upon  the  ear;  one,  said  by  natives  to 
proceed  from  a  large  beetle,  resembles  a  succession  of 
measured  musical  blows  upon  an  anvil,  while  many  others 
are  perfectly  indescribable.  A  little  lemur  was  once  seen  to 
leap  about  from  branch  to  branch  with  the  agility  of  a  frog ; 
it  chirruped  like  a  bird,  and  is  not  larger  than  a  robin- 
red-breast  Reptiles,  though  numerous,  seldom  troubled 
us ;  only  two  men  suffered  from  stings,  and  that  very 
slightly,  during  the  entire  journey,  the  one  supposed 
that  he  was  bitten  by  a  snake,  and  the  other  was  stung  by 
a  scorpion. 

Grass-burning  has  begun,  and  is  producing  the  blue  hazy 
atmosphere  of  the  American  Indian  summer,  which  in 
Western  Africa  is  called  the  **  smokes."  Miles  of  fire  bum 
on  the  mountain-sides  in  the  evenings,  but  go  out  during  the 
night.  From  their  height  they  resemble  a  broad  zigzag  line 
of  fire  in  the  heavens. 

We  slept  on  the  night  of  the  6th  July  on  the  left  bank  of 


214  ESCAPE  FROM  RHINOCEROS.  Chap.  X. 

the  Chongwe,  which  comes  through  a  gap  in  the  hills  on  our 
rights  and  is  twenty  yards  wide.  A  small  tribe  of  the  Bazi- 
zulu,  from  the  south,  under  Dadanga,  have  recently  settled 
here  and  built  a  village.  Some  of  their  houses  are  square, 
and  they  seem  to  be  on  friendly  terms  with  the  Bakoa, 
who  own  the  country.  They,  like  the  other  natives,  culti- 
vate cotton,  but  of  a  different  species  from  any  we  have  yet 
seen  in  Africa,  the  staple  being  very  long,  and  the  boll  larger 
than  what  is  usually  met  Avith ;  the  seeds  cohere  as  in  the 
Pemambuco  kind.  They  brought  the  seed  with  them  frt)m 
their  own  country,  the  distant  mountains  of  which  in  the 
south,  still  inhabited  by  their  fellow-countrymen,  who  possess 
much  cattle  and  use  shields,  can  be  seen  from  this  high 
ground.  These  people  profess  to  be  children  of  the  great 
l)aramoimt  Chief,  Kwanyakarombe,  who  is  said  to  be  lord  of  all 
the  Bj^zizulu.  The  name  bf  this  tribe  is  known  to  geographers, 
who  derive  their  information  from  the  Portuguese,  as  the  Mo- 
rtisurusy  and  the  hills  mentioned  above  are  said  to  have  been 
the  country  of  Changamira,  the  warrior-chief  of  history,  whom 
no  Portuguese  ever  dared  to  approach.  The  Bazizulu  seem,  by 
report,  to  be  brave  mountaineers ;  nearer  the  river,  the  Sidima 
inhabit  the  plains ;  just  as  on  the  north  side,  the  Babimpe 
live  on  the  heights,  about  two  days  off,  and  the  Makoa  on  or 
near  the  river.  The  Chief  of  the  Bazizulu  we  were  now  Avith 
was  hospitable  and  friendly.  A  herd  of  buffaloes  came 
trampling  tlirough  the  gardens  and  roused  up  our  men;  a 
feat  that  roaring  lions  seldom  achieved. 

Our  course  next  day  passed  over  the  upper  terrace  and 
through  a  dense  thorn  jungle.  Travelling  is  always  diffi- 
cult where  there  is  no  path,  but  it  is  even  more  per- 
plexing where  the  forest  is  cut  up  by  many  game-tracks. 
Here  we   got   separated  from  one  another,  and  a    rhino- 


Chap.  X.  THE  WILD  DOG.  215 

ceros  with  angry  snort  dashed  at  Dr.  Livingstone  as  he 
stooped  to  pick  up  a  specimen  of  the  wild  fruit  morula ;  but 
she  strangely  stopped  stock-still  when  less  than  her  own 
length  distant,  and  gave  him  time  to  escape;  a  branch 
pulled  out  his  watch  as  he  ran,  and  turning  half  round 
to  grasp  it,  he  got  a  distant  glance  of  her  and  her  calf  still 
standing  on  the  selfsame  spot,  as  if  arrested  in  the  middle  of 
her  charge  by  an  unseen  hand  When  about  fifty  yards  off, 
thinking  his  companions  close  behind,  he  shouted  '<  Look  out 
there ! "  when  off  she  rushed,  snorting  loudly,  in  another 
direction.  The  Doctor  usually  went  unarmed  before  this,  but 
never  afterwards. 

A  peculiar  yelping  came  from  one  part  of  the  jungle,  and 
Charles  Livingstone  found  it  to  proceed  from  a  troop  of  wild 
dogs  wrangling  over  the  remains  of  a  buffalo  which  they 
had  killed  and  nearly  devoured.  The  wild  dog  {Hycena 
venatica)  has  a  large  head,  and  jaws  of  great  power;  the  ears 
are  long,  the  colour  black  and  yellow  in  patches,  with 
a  white  tuft  at  the  tip  of  the  tail.  They  hunt  their  game 
in  packs,  and  perseveringly  follow  the  animal  they  first  start 
till  they  bring  him  down.  The  BalaJa  of  the  Kalahari 
desert  are  said  to  have  formerly  tamed  them  and  to  have 
employed  them  to  hunt  An  intelligent  native  at  Kolo- 
beng  remembered  when  a  boy  to  have  seen  a  pack  of 
the  dogs  returning  from  a  hunt  in  charge  of  their  masters, 
who  drove  them  like  a  herd  of  goats,  and  for  safety  kept 
them  in  a  pit.  A  fine  eland  was  shot  by  Dr.  Kirk  this 
afternoon,  the  first  we  have  killed.  It  was  in  first-rate 
condition,  and  remarkably  fat;  but  the  meat,  though  so 
tempting  in  appearance,  severely  deranged  all  who  partook 
of  it  heartily,  especially  those  who  ate  of  the  fat  Natives 
who  live  in  game  countries,  and  are  acquainted  with  the 


216  FAMILIES  FLITTING.  Chap.  X. 

diflferent  kinds  of  wild  animals,  have  a  prejudice  against 
tlie  fat  of  the  eland,  the  pallah,  the  zebra,  hippopotamus, 
and  pig:  they  never  reject  it  however,  the  climate  mak- 
ing the  desire  for  all  animal  food  very  strong;  but  they 
consider  that  it  causes  ulcers  and  leprosy,  while  the  fat  of 
sheep  and  of  oxen  never  produces  any  bad  effects,  unless  the 
animal  is  diseased. 

We  frequently  meet  families  flitting  from  one  place  to 
another,  marching,  like  ourselves,  in  single  file.  The  father 
and  husband  at  the  head,  carrying  his  bow  and  arrow, 
bag,  hatchet,  and  spear,  and  little  else;  next  his  son  or 
sons,  armed  also,  but  carrying  loads ;  then  follow  wife  and 
daughters,  with  bulky  loads  of  household  gear  on  their 
heads.  They  meet  us  without  fear,  or  any  of  the  crmging 
ways  of  slaves,  so  common  down  the  river,  where  the  institu- 
tion has  been  established.  When  we  kill  any  animal  these 
travelling  parties  are  made  welcome  to  a  good  portion 
of  meat.  At  the  foot  or  on  the  branches  of  the  great 
wild  fig-tree,  at  the  public  meeting-place  of  every  village, 
a  collection  of  the  magnificent  horns  of  buffaloes  and 
antelopes  shows  the  proud  trophies  of  the  hunter's  success  in 
the  chase.  At  these  spots  were  some  of  the  most  splendid 
buffalo  heads  we  have  ever  seen  :  the  horns  after  making  a 
complete  circle  had  commenced  a  second  turn.  This  would 
be  a  rich  country  for  a  horn  fancier. 

On  the  morning  of  the  9th,  after  passing  four  villages,  we 
breakfasted  at  an  old  friend's,  Tombanyama,  who  lives  now 
on  the  mainland,  having  resigned  the  reedy  island,  where  he 
was  first  seen,  to  the  buffaloes,  which  used  to  take  his  crops 
and  show  fight  to  his  men.  He  keeps  a  lai-ge  flock  of 
tame  pigeons,  and  some  fine  fat  capons,  one  of  which  he 
g-ave  us,  with  a  basket  of  meal.     They  have  plenty  of  salt 


Chap.  X.  CONFLUENCE  OF  THE  KAFUE.  217 

in  this  part  of  the  country,  obtaining  it  from  the  plains  in 
the  usual  way. 

The  half-caste  partner  of  Sequasha  and  a  number  of  hb 
men  were  staying  near.    The  fellow  was  very  much  frightened 
when  he  saw  us,  and  trembled  so  much  when  ho  spoke,  that 
the  Makololo  and  other  natives  noticed  and  remarked  on  it. 
His  feara  arose  from  a  sense  of  guilt,  as  we  said  nothing  to 
frighten  him,  and  did  not  allude  to  the  murder  till  a  few 
minutes  before  starting;    when  it  was  remarked  that  Dr. 
Livingstone  having  been  accredited  to  the  mmdered  Chief, 
it  would  be  his  duty  to  report  on  it;  and  that  not  even  the 
Portuguese  Government  would  approve  of  the  deed.     He 
defended  it  by  saying  that  they  had  put  in  the  right  man, 
the  other  was  a  usurper.    He  was  evidently  greatly  relieved 
when  we  departed.    In  the  afternoon  we  came  to  an  outlying 
hamlet  of  Kambadzo,  whose  own  village  is  on  an  island,  Ny- 
ampungo  or  Nyangalule,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Kafue.  The 
Chief  was  on  a  visit  here,  and  they  had  been  enjoying  a  regu- 
lar jollification  in  honour  of  his  Highness.     There  had  been 
much  mirth,  music,  drinking,  and  dancing.    The  men,  and 
women  too,  had  taken  "  a  wee  drap  too  much,"  but  had  not 
passed  the  complimentary  stage.    The  wife  of  the  headman, 
after   looking   at   us   a   few  moments,  called    out  to   the 
others,  "  Black  traders  have  come  before,  calling  themselves 
Bazungu,  or  white  men,  but  now,  for  the  first  time,  have  we 
seen  the  real  Bazungu."    Kambadzo  also  soon  appeared ;  he 
was  sorry  that  we  had  not  come  before  the  beer  was  all  done, 
but  he  was  going  back  to  see  if  it  was  all  really  and  entirely 
finished,  and  not  one  little  potful  left  somewhere. 

This  was,  of  course,  mere  characteristic  politeness,  as  he 
was  perfectly  aware  that  every  drop  had  been  swallowed ; 
so  we  proceeded  on  to  the  Kafue,  or  Kafuje,  accompanied 


218  MOUNTAIK-RANGE.  Chap.  X. 

by  the  most  intelligent  of  his  headmen*  A  high  ridge, 
jiist  before  we  reached  the  confluence,  commands  a  splendid 
view  of  the  two  great  rivers  and  the  rich  comitry  beyond. 
Behind,  on  the  north  and  east,  is  the  high  mountain-range, 
along  whose  base  we  have  been  travelling ;  the  whole  range 
is  covered  with  trees,  which  appear  even  on  the  prominent 
peaks,  Chiarapela,  Morindi,  and  Chiava;  at  this  last  the 
chain  bends  away  to  the  N.W.,  and  we  could  see  the  distant 
mountains  where  the  Chief,  Semalembue,  gained  all  our 
hearts  in  1856. 


CttiP.  XI.  HERD  OP  HIPPOPOTAMF.  ?19 


CHAPTER  XL 

• 

gemalembuc — Nchomokela — Mr.  MoffaVs  mission  to  Moselekfttse  beard  of — 
KatiTO  game-law  —  Monntains — Ancient  state  of  oonntry  —  Neither  art  nor 
power  possess  the  effect  of  ancient  miracles — Jealousy  of  stmngers  not 
African  bnt  Arab  —  The  Bawe  and  "  Baenda  pezi,**  or  "  Go-nakcds  "  —  Their 
hospitality — Leave  Zambesi,  and  ascend  Zungwe  to  Batoka  Highlands  — 
Sebetnane — A  cairn — Batoka  men  of  peace — Arboriculturists  —  Qmre- 
yards — Muave  —  Tsetse  medicine  —  Desire  for  peace  —  Com  extensively  cul- 
tivated—  A  poet,  and  minstrel — Musical  instruments  —  Our  naked  friend — 
Polite  tobacco-smokers — Bawe  never  visited  by  Europeans  before  —  Slave- 
trade  follows  our  footsteps  —  Attempt  by  Governor-General  ofMosambique 
to  shut  up  Bovuma — Seabenzo  —  Elephant  killed  —  Numbers  annually 
slain — Meteor — The  Falls  visible  upwards  of  twenty  miles  off — Fever 
treated  and  untreated  —  Moshobotwane  —  Meet  Makololo  near  the  Falls. 

On  the  9th  July,  we  tried  to  send  Semalembue  a  present,  but 
the  people  here  refused  to  incur  tlie  responsibility  of  carry- 
ing it.  We,  who  have  the  art  of  writing,  cannot  realize 
the  danger  one  incurs  of  being  accused  of  purloining  a 
portion  of  goods  sent  from  one  person  to  another,  when  the 
carrier  cannot  prove  that  he  delivered  all  committed  to  his 
charge.  Bumours  of  a  foray  having  been  made,  either 
by  Makololo  or  Batoka,  as  far  as  the  fork  of  the  Kafue, 
were  received  here  by  our  men  with  great  indignation,  as  it 
looked  as  if  the  mai-auders  were  shutting  up  the  country, 
which  they  had  been  trying  so  much  to  open.  Below  the 
junction  of  the  rivers,  on  a  shallow  sandbank,  lay  a  large  herd 
of  hippopotami,  their  bodies  out  of  the  water,  like  masses 
of  black  rock.  Eambadzo's  island,  called  Nyangalule,  a  name 
which  occurs  again  at  the  mouth  of  the  Zambesi,  has  many 
choice  Motsikiri  (Trachelia)  trees  on  it;  and  four  very  con- 
spicuous stately  palms  growing  out  of  a  single  stem.    The 


220  THE  BAWE  COUNTRY.  Chap.  XF. 

Eafue  reminds  us  a  little  of  the  Shire,  flowing  between 
steep  banks,  with  fertile  land  on  both  sides.  It  is  a  smaller 
river,  and  has  less  current.  Here  it  seems  to  come  from 
the  west.  The  headman  of  the  village,  near  which  we  en- 
camped, brought  a  present  of  meal,  fowls,  and  sweet  potatoes. 
They  have  both  the  red  and  white  varieties  of  this  potato. 
We  have,  on  several  occasions  during  this  journey,  felt  the  want 
of  vegetables,  in  a  disagreeable  craving  which  our  diet  of  meat 
and  native  meal  could  not  satisfy.  It  became  worse  and  worse 
till  we  got  a  meal  of  potatoes,  which  allayed  it  at  once.  A 
great  scarcity  of  vegetables  prevails  in  these  parts  of  Africa. 
The  natives  collect  several  kinds  of  wild  plants  in  the  woods, 
which  they  use  no  doubt  for  the  purpose  of  driving  oflF  cravings 
similar  to  those  we  experienced. 

Owing  to  the  strength  of  the  wind,  and  the  cranky  state 
of  the  canoes,  it  was  late  in  the  afternoon  of  the  11th 
before  our  party  was  ferried  over  the  Kafue.  After  crow- 
ing, we  were  in  the  Bawe  countiy.  Fishhooks  here,  of 
native  workmanship,  were  observed  to  have  barbs  like  the 
European  hooks :  elsewhere  the  point  of  the  hook  is  merely 
bent  in  towards  the  shank,  te  have  the  same  effect  in  keep- 
ing on  the  fish  as  the  barb.  We  slept  near  a  village  a  short 
distance  above  the  ford.  The  people  here  are  of  Batoka 
origin,  the  same  as  many  of  our  men,  and  call  themselves 
Batonga  (independents)  or  Balengi,  and  their  language  only 
differs  slightly  from  that  of  the  Bakoa,  who  live  between  the 
two  nyers  Kafue  and  Loang>va.  The  paramount  Chief  of 
the  district  lives  to  the  west  of  this  place,  and  is  called 
Nchomokela — ^an  hereditary  title :  the  family  burying-place 
is  on  a  small  hill  near  this  village.  The  women  salute  us 
by  clapping  their  hands  and  lullilooing  as  we  enter  and 
leave  a  village,  and  the  men,  as  they  think,  respectfully  clap 


Chap.  XL  NATIVE  GAI^fE-LAW.  221 

their  hands  on  their  hips.  Immense  crops  of  mapira  {fioleu$ 
sorghum)  are  raised ;  one  species  of  it  forms  a  natural  bend 
on  the  seed-stalk,  so  that  the  massiye  ear  hangs  down.  The 
grain  was  heaped  up  on  wooden  stages,  and  so  was  a  variety 
of  other  products.  The  men  are  skilful  hunters,  and  kill 
elephants  and  buffaloes  with  long  heavy  spears.  We  halted 
a  few  minutes  on  the  morning  of  the  12th  July,  opposite 
the  narrow  island  of  Sikakoa,  which  has  a  village  on 
its  lower  end.  We  were  here  told  that  Moselekatse's  chief 
town  is  a  month's  distance  from  this  place.  They  had 
heard,  moreover,  that  the  English  had  come  to  Bfoselekatse, 
and  told  liim  it  was  wrong  to  kill  men ;  and  he  had  replied 
that  he  was  born  to  kill  people,  but  would  drop  the  habit ; 
and,  since  the  English  came,  he  had  sent  out  his  men,  not 
to  kill  as  of  yore,  but  to  collect  tribute  of  cloth  and  ivory. 
This  report  referred  to  the  arrival  of  the  Eev.  K.  Moffat, 
of  Kuruman,  who,  we  afterwards  found,  had  established  a 
Mission.  The  statement  is  interesting  as  showing,  that, 
though  imperfectly  expressed,  the  purport  of  the  Mission- 
aries' teaching  had  travelled,  in  a  short  time,  over  300 
miles,  and  we  know  not  how  far  the  knowledge  of  tlie 
English  operations  on  the  Coast  spread  inland. 

When  abreast  of  the  high  wooded  island  Ealabi  we  came 
in  contact  with  one  of  the  game-laws  of  the  country,  which 
has  come  down  from  the  most  ancient  times.  An  old  buffalo 
crossed  the  path  a  few  yards  m  front  of  us ;  our  guide  threw 
liis  smaU  spear  at  its  hip,  and  it  was  going  off  scarcely  hurt, 
when  three  rifle  balls  knocked  it  over.  "It  is  mine,"  said 
the  guide.  He  had  wounded  it  first,  and  the  estabhshed 
native  game-law  is  that  the  animal  belongs  to  the  man  who 
first  draws  blood ;  the  two  legs  on  one  side,  by  the  same  law, 
belonged  to  us  for  killing  it.    This  beast  was  very  old,  blind  of 


222  ANCIENT  STATE  OF  COUNTRY.  Chap.  XI. 

one  eye,  and  scabby ;  the  horns,  mere  stumps,  not  a  foot  long, 
must  have  atrophied,  when  by  age  he  lost  the  strength  dis- 
tinctive of  his  sex ;  some  eighteen  or  twenty  inches  of  horn 
could  not  well  be  worn  down  by  mere  rubbing  against  the 
trees.  We  saw  many  buffaloes  next  day,  standing  quietly 
amidst  a  thick  thorn-jungle,  through  which  we  were  passing. 
They  often  stood  until  we  were  witliin  fifty  or  a  hundred 
yards  of  them. 

We  had  always  mountains  before  us  in  the  distance,  and 
sometimes  passed  through  hills  that  come  close  to  or  inter- 
sect the  river.  This  is  the  case  with  those  called  Moio. 
They  are  generally  of  igneous  or  metamorphic  rocks,  day- 
slate,  or  trap,  with  porcellanite  and  zeolite ;  the  principal  rock 
in  the  central  part  of  the  country,  where  no  syenite  or 
gneiss  had  been  upheaved,  seems  to  be  a  grey  coarse  sand- 
stone, known  to  us  by  the  name  of  Tette  sandstone.  Large 
masses  of  it  still  lie  horizontally  or  only  slightly  inclined. 
When  much  disturbed,  it  has  been  tilted  up  by  the  eruption 
of  igneous  rocks,  and  near  the  point  of  contact  it  has  either 
been  hardened  or  melted,  and  the  coal  which  elsewhere  still 
lies  under  the  undisturbed  stratum,  is  crystaUized  or  entirely 
burned.  The  igneous  rocks  often  form  dykes,  as  that  called 
Nakabele,  Avhich  stretches  like  a  dam  across  the  western 
entrance  to  the  Eariba  gorge.  In  the  vicinity  of  the  erupted 
rocks  we  usually  meet  soft  calcareous  tufa,  as  i^  after  the 
igneous  action,  many  hot  fountains  flowing  had  deposited  lime 
from  their  water. 

Previous,  however,  to  this  period  of  eruption  and  upheaval, 
it  is  probable  that  the  sandstone  formed  the  bed  of  prodi- 
gious inland  seas,  along  the  low  shores  of  which  the  plants 
of  the  coal  flourished,  succeeded,  as  the  land  was  gradually 
elevated,  by  the  trees  we  now  find  silicified  on  the  surface ; 


Chap,  XI.  MOLOI,  A  GENEROUS  CHIEF.  223 

these  may  perhaps  have  been  submerged,  as  the  land  again 
sank  under  some  igneous  agency,  and  became  subjected  to 
the  action  of  water,  at  a  high  temperature,  holding  silica  in 
solution*  However  that  may  have  been,  it  is  certain  that  a 
coalfield  of  unknown  extent  exists,  for  coal  is  found  cropping 
out  near  to  the  lava  or  basalt,  which  is  the  principal  rock  of 
the  Victoria  Falls  district,  and,  with  the  "  faults"  alluded  to, 
it  extends  to  the  east  of  Tette.  Then,  again,  we  saw  it  in 
the  Kovuma,  with  the  same  characteristic  of  fossil-wood  lying 
on  the  grey  sandstone.  With  abundance  of  fine  iron-ore,  the 
existence  of  tiiis  prodigious  coalfield  leads  to  the  belief  that 
an  important  future  is  in  store  for  A&ica. 

On  the  14th  July  we  left  the  river  at  the  mountain-range, 
which,  lying  north-east  and  south-west  across  the  river,  forms 
the  Kariba  gorge.  Near  the  upper  end  of  the  Kariba  rapids, 
the  stream  Sanyati  enters  from  the  south,  and  is  reported  to 
Lave  Moselekatse's  principal  cattle-posts  at  its  sources;  our 
route  went  round  the  north  end  of  the  mountains,  and  we 
encamped  beside  the  village  of  the  generous  Chief,  Moloi, 
who  brought  us  three  immense  baskets  of  fine  mapira  meal, 
ten  fowls,  and  two  pots  of  beer.  On  receiving  a  present  in 
return,  he  rose,  and,  with  a  few  dancing  gestures,  said  or 
sang,  "Motota,  Motota,  Motota,"  which  our  men  translated 
into  "  thanks."  He  had  visited  Moselekatse  a  few  months 
before  our  arrival,  and  saw  the  English  Missionaries,  living 
in  their  wagons.  "They  told  Moselekatse,"  said  he,  "they 
were  of  his  family,  or  friends,  and  would  plough  the  land 
and  live  at  their  own  expense ;"  and  he  had  replied,  "  The 
land  is  before  you,  and  I  shall  come  and  see  you  plough." 
This  again  was  substantially  what  took  place,  when  Mr. 
Moffat  introduced  the  Missionaries  to  his  old  friend,  and 
shows  still  further  that  the  notion  of  losing  their  country  by 


224  JEALOUSY  NOT  MAINLY  AFRICAN.  Chap.  Xf. 

admitting  foreigners  does  not  come  as  the  first  idea  to  the 
native  mind.    One  might  imagine  that,  as  mechanical  powers 
are  unknown  to  the  heathen,  the  almost  magic  operations  of 
machinery,  the  discoveries  of  modem  science  and  art,  or 
the  presence  of  the  prodigious  force  which,  for  instance,  is 
associated   with   the   sight   of  a   man-of-war,   would  have 
the  effect  which  miracles   once  had  of  arresting  the  at- 
tention and  inspiring  awe.      But,  though  we  have  heard 
the  natives  exclaim  in  admiration  at  the  sight   of   even 
small  illustrations  of  what  science  enables  us  to  do — ^^  Ye 
are    gods,  and    not    men" — the  heart  is  unaffected.      In 
attempting  their  moral  elevation,  it  is  always  more  con- 
ducive to  the  end  desired,  that  the  teacher  should  come 
unaccompanied  by  any  power  to  cause  either  jealousy  or  fear. 
The  heathen,  who  have  not  become  aware  of  the  greed  and 
hate  which  too  often  characterize  the  advancing  tide  of  emi- 
gration, listen  with  most  attention  to  the  message  of  Divine 
love  when  delivered  by  men  who  evidently  possess  the  same 
human   sympathies  with   themselves.      A  Chief  is  rather 
envied  his  good  fortune  in  first  securing  foreigners  in  his 
town.    Jealousy  of  strangers  belongs  more  to  the  Arab  than 
to  the  African  character ;  and  if  the  women  are  let  alone  by 
the  traveller,  no  danger  need  be  apprehended  from  any  save 
the  slave-trading  tribes,  and  not  often  even  from  them. 

We  saw  large  flocks  of  the  beautiful  Numidian  cranes : 
guinea-fowls  were  still  numerous,  but  rather  shyer,  as  the 
natives  here  shoot  many  with  arrows,  and  kill  them  by  skil- 
fully throwing  their  clubs.  The  Mambo,  the  name  here  for 
Chief,  of  the  island  Mochue  sent  his  brother  and  principal 
men  after  us  to  present  a  gift^  and  to  "hear  the  words  which 
were  to  cause  the  land  to  rest"  We  apologized  for  passing 
without  calling,  by  stating  that  strangers  could  not  know 


Chap,  XL      THE  **  BAENDA  PEZI,"  OR  "  GO-NAKEDS."         225 

who  was  who.  He  proposed  sending  a  deputation  with  ns 
to  Sekeletn,  in  order  to  renew  the  friendly  intercourse  of 
former  years^  which  of  late  had  been  broken  by  marauding 
and  war :  but  the  Doctor  said  he  did  not  know  whether 
Sekeletu  was  goveming  wisely,  or  whether  he  was  hearkening 
to  the  counsels  of  the  old  warriors,  who  wished  him  to  follow 
in  the  footsteps  of  his  warlike  father,  Sebetuane.  As  we 
were  ^nding  the  evening  opposite  Mochue,  some  men  came 
with  a  marimba  and  accompaniments  of  buffalo-horns  beaten 
with  sticks ;  but  our  men,  knowing  that  we  soon  tired  of 
their  monotonous  tnnes  and  nngainly  dancing,  ordered  them 
away.  On  the  islands  and  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Zambesi, 
all  the  way  from  the  riyer  Eafue,  there  is  a  large  popu- 
lation; the  right  bank  is  equally  fertile,  but  depopulated, 
because  Moselekatse  does  not  allow  any  one  to  live  there 
who  might  raise  an  alarm  when  he  sends  out  marauders 
beyond.  From  Moloi's  village  onwards,  the  people,  though 
6atoka»  are  called  Bawe  and  Ba  Selea.  Much  salt  is  made 
on  the  rivulet  Losito,  and  sold  in  large  quantities,  and  very 
cheap. 

We  passed  through  a  fertile  country,  covered  with  open 
forest,  accompanied  by  the  friendly  !Q^we.  They  are  very 
hospitable ;  many  of  them  were  named,  among  themselves, 
"the  Baenda  pezi,**  or  " Gro-nakeds,"  their  only  clothing 
being  a  coat  of  red  ochre.  Occasionally  stopping  at  their 
Tillages  we  were  duly  lullilooed,  and  regaled  with  sweet 
new-made  beer,  which,  being  yet  unfermented,  was  not  in- 
toxicating. It  is  in  this  state  called  Liting  or  Makonde. 
Some  of  the  men  carry  large  shields  of  buffalo-hide,  and 
all  are  well  supplied  with  heavy  spears.  The  vicinity 
of  the  villages  is  usually  cleared  and  cultivated  in  large 
patches ;  but  nowhere  can  the  country  be  said  to  be  stocked 

Q 


226  THE  BAWE  VERY  HOSPITABLE.  Chap.  XI. 

with  people.  At  every  village  stands  were  erected,  and  piles 
of  the  native  com,  still  nnthrashed,  placed  upon  them ;  some 
had  been  beaten  out,  put  into  oblong  parcels  made  of  grass, 
and  stacked  in  wooden  frames. 

We  crossed  several  rivulets  in  our  course,  aei  the  Mandora, 
the  Lofia,  the  Manzaia  (with  brackish  water),  tiie  Bimbe,  the 
Chibue,  the  Chezia,  the  Chilola  (containing  fragments  of  coal), 
which  did  little  more  than  mark  our  progress.  The  island  and 
rapid  of  Nakansalo,  of  which  we  had  formerly  heard,  were  of  no 
importance,  the  rapid  being  but  half-a-mile  long,  and  only  on 
one  side  of  the  island.  The  island  Ealuzi  marks  one  of  the 
numerous  places  where  astronomical  observations  were  made; 
Mozia,  a  station  where  a  volunteer  poet  left  us ;  the  island 
Mochenya,  and  Mpande  island,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Zungwe 
rivulet,  where  we  left  the  Zambesi 

When  fSeivoured  with  the  hospitality  and  company  of  the 
**  Go-nakeds,"  we  tried  to  discover  if  nudity  were  the  badge 
of  a  particular  order  among  the  Bawe,  but  they  could  only 
refer  to  custom.  Some  among  them  had  always  liked  it  for 
no  reason  in  particular :  shame  seemed  to  lie  dormant^  and 
the  sense  could  not  be  aroused  by  our  laughing  and  joking 
them  on  their  appoarance.  They  evidently  felt  no  less 
decent  than  we  did  with  our  clothes  on ;  but,  whatever  may 
be  said  in  favour  of  nude  statues,  it  struck  us  that  man,  in 
a  state  of  nature,  is  a  most  ungainly  animaL  Could  we  see  a 
number  of  the  degraded  of  our  own  lower  classes  in  like 
guise,  it  is  probable,  that,  without  the  black  colour  which 
acts  somehow  as  a  dress,  they  would  look  worse  stilL 

In  domestic  contentions  the  Bawe  are  careM  not  to  kill 
each  other ;  but,  when  one  village  goes  to  war  with  another, 
they  are  not  so  particular.  The  victorious  party  are  said  to 
quarter  one  of  the  bodies  of  the  enemies  they  may  have  killed. 


€hap.  XI.  LEAVE  THE  ZAMBESI.  227 

and  to  perf(Hrm  certain  ceremonies  over  the  firagments.    The 
vanquished  call  upon  their  conquerors  to  give  them  a  portion 
also;  aad,  when  this  request  is  compUed  with,  they  too  perform 
the  same  ceremonies,  and  lament  over  their  dead  comrade, 
after  which  the  late  combatants  may  visit  each  other  in  peace. 
Sometimes  the  head  of  the  slain  is  taken  and  buried  in  an  ant- 
hill, till  all  the  flesh  is  gone ;  and  the  lower  jaw  is  then  worn 
as  a  trophy  by  the  slayer ;  but  this  we  never  saw,  and  the  fore- 
going information  was  obtained  only  through  an  interpreter. 
We  left  the  Zambesi  at  the  mouth  of  the  Zungwo  or 
Mozama  or  Dela  rivulet,  up  which  we  proceeded,  first  in  a 
westerly  and  then  in  a  north-westerly  direction.  The  Zungwe 
at  this  time  had  no  water  in  its  sandy  channel  for  the  first 
eight  or  ten  miles.    Willows,  however,  grow  on  the  banks, 
and  water  soon  began  to  appear  in  the  hollows ;  and  a  few 
miles  farther  up  it  was  a  fine  flowing  stream  deliciously 
cold.    As  in  many  other  streams  from  Chicova  to  near  Si- 
namane,  shale  and  coal  crop  out  in  the  bank ;  and  here  the 
large  roots  of  stigmaria  or  its  allied  plants  were  found.    We 
followed  the  course  of  the  Zungwe  to  the  foot  of  the  Batoka 
highlands,  up  whose  steep  ojid  rugged  sides  of  red  and  white 
quartz  we  climbed  till  we  attained  an  altitude  of  upwards  of 
3000  feet    Here,  on  the  cool  and  bracing  heights,  the  ex- 
hilaration of  mind  and  body  was  delightful,  as  we  looked  back 
at  the  hollow  beneath  covered  with  a  hot  sultry  glare,  not  un- 
pleasant now  that  we  were  in  the  mild  radiance  above.  We  had 
a  noble  view  of  the  great  valley. in  which  the  Zambesi  flows. 
The  cultivated  portions  are  so  small  in  comparison  to  the  rest 
of  the  landscape  that  the  valley  appears  nearly  aU  forest, 
with  a  few  grassy  glades.    We  spent  the  night  of  the  28th 
July  high  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  by  the  rivulet  Tyotyo, 
near  Tabacheu  or  Chirebuechina,  names  both  signifying  white 

Q  2 


228  DESERTED  BATOKA  VILLAGES.  Chap.  XI. 

mountain ;  in  the  morning  hoar  frost  covered  the  ground,  and 
thin  ice  was  on  the  pools.  Skirting  the  southern  flank  of  Ta- 
bacheUy  we  soon  passed  from  the  hills  on  to  the  portion  of  the 
yast  table-land  called  Mataba,  and  looking  back  saw  all  the 
way  across  the  Zambesi  yallej  to  the  lofty  ridge  some  thirty 
miles  off,  which,  coming  from  the  Mashona,  a  country  in  the 
S.E.,  runs  to  the  N.W.  to  join  the  ridge  at  the  angle  of 
which  are  the  Victoria  Falls,  and  then  bends  fSar  to  the 
N.E.  ftx)m  the  same  point  Only  a  few  years  since, 
these  extensive  highlands  were  peopled  by  the  Batoka ;  nu- 
merous herds  of  cattle  furnished  abundance  of  milk,  and 
the  rich  soil  amply  repaid  the  labour  of  the  husbandman ; 
now  large  herds  of  buffaloes,  zebras,  and  antelopes  frttten 
on  the  excellent  pasture ;  and  on  that  land,  which  formerly 
supported  multitudes,  not  a  man  is  to  be  seen.  In 
travelling  fr^m  Monday  morning  till  late  on  Saturday 
afternoon,  all  the  way  from  Tabacheu  to  Moachemba, 
which  is  only  twenty-one  miles  of  latitude  from  the 
Victoria  Falls,  and  constantly  passing  the  ruined  sites 
of  utterly  deserted  Batoka  villages,  we  did  not  fall  in 
with  a  single  person.  The  Batoka  were  driven  out  of 
their  noble  country  by  the  invasions  of  Moselekatse  and 
Sebetuane.  Several  tribes  of  Bechuana  and  Basutu,  flee- 
ing from  the  Zulu  or  Matebele  Chief,  Moselekatse,  reached 
the  Zambesi  above  the  Falls.  Coming  fr^m  a  land  without 
rivers,  none  of  them  knew  how  to  swim;  and  one  tribe,  caUed 
the  Bamangwato,  wishing  to  cross  the  Zambesi,  was  ferried 
over,  men  and  women  separately,  to  different  islands,  by  one 
of  the  Batoka  Chiefs ;  the  men  were  then  left  to  starve  and 
the  women  appropriated  by  the  ferryman  and  his  people. 
Sekomi,  the  present  Chief  of  the  Bamangwato,  then  an  in- 
fant in  his  mother's  arms,  was  enabled,  through  the  kindneffl 


Chap.  XI.  THE  BATOKA  MEN  OP  PEACE.  229 

of  a  priyatd  Batoka,  to  escape.  This  act  seems  to  have  made 
an  indelible  impression  on  Sekomfs  heart,  for,  though  other- 
mse  callous,  he  still  never  fails  to  inquire  after  the  welfiGire 
of  his  benefactor. 

Sebetuane,  with  his  wonted  ability,  outwitted  the  treache- 
rous Batoka,  by  insisting  in  the  politest  manner  on  their  Chief 
remaining  at  his  own  side  until  the  people  and  cattle  were 
all  carried  safe  across;  the  Chief  was  then  handsomely 
rewarded,  both  with  cattle  and  brass  rings  off  Sebetuane's 
own  wives.  No  sooner  were  the  Makololo,  then  called 
Basuto,  safely  over,  than  they  were  confronted  by  the 
whole  Batoka  nation;  and  to  this  day  the  Makololo  point 
with  pride  to  the  spot  on  the  Lekone,  near  to  which  they 
were  encamped,  where  Sebetuane,  with  a  mere  handful  of 
warriors  in  comparison  to  the  vast  horde  that  surrounded 
him,  stood  waiting  the  onslaught,  the  warriors  in  one 
small  body,  the  women  and  children  guarding  the  cattle 
behind  them.  The  Batoka,  of  course,  melted  away  before 
those,  who  had  been  made  veterans  by  years  of  conti- 
nual fighting,  and  Sebetuane  always  justified  his  subse- 
quent conquests  in  that  country  by  alleging  that  the 
Batoka  had  come  out  to  fight  with  a  man  fleeing  for  his 
life,  who  had  never  done  them  any  wrong.  They  seem 
never  to  have  been  a  warlike  race;  passing  through  their 
country,  we  once  observed  a  large  stone  cairn,  and  our  guide 
favoured  us  with  the  following  account  of  it : — **  Once  upon 
a  time,  our  forefathers  were  going  to  fight  another  tribe,  and 
here  they  halted  and  sat  down.  After  a  long  consultation, 
they  came  to  the  unanimous  conclusion,  that  instead  of  pro- 
ceeding to  fight  and  kill  their  neighbours,  and  perhaps  be 
killed  themselves,  it  would  be  more  like  men  to  raise  this 
heap  of  stones,  as  their  protest  against  the  wrong  the  other 


230  ARBORICULTURISTS.  Chap.  XI. 

tribe  had  done  them,  which,  having  accomplished,  they  re- 
turned quietly  home."  Such  men  of  peace  could  not  stand 
before  the  Makololo,  nor,  of  course,  the  more  warlike  Matebele, 
who  coming  afterwards  drove  even  their  conquerors,  the  Ma- 
kololo, out  of  the  country.  Sebetuane,  however,  profiting  by 
the  tactics  which  he  had  learned  of  the  Batoka,  inveigled  a 
large  body  of  this  new  enemy  on  to  another  island,  and  after 
due  starvation  there  overcame  the  whole.  A  much  greater 
army  of  "  Moselekatse*s  own"  followed  with  canoes,  but  were 
now  baffled  by  Sebetuane's  placing  all  his  people  and  cattle 
on  an  island  and  so  guarding  it  that  none  could  approach. 
Dispirited,  famished,  borne  down  by  fever,  they  returned  ta 
the  Falls,  and  all,  except  five,  were  cut  off; 

But  though  the  Batoka  appear  never  to  have  had  much 
inclination  to  fight  with  men,  they  are  decidedly  brave 
hunters  of  buffaloes  and  elephants.  They  go  fearlessly  dose 
np  to  these  formidable  animals,  and  kill  them  with  large 
spears.  The  Banyai,  who  have  long  bullied  all  Portu- 
guese traders,  were  amazed  at  the  daring  and  bravery 
of  the  Batoka  in  coming  at  once  to  close  quarters  with  the 
elephant ;  and  Chisaka,  a  Portuguese  rebel,  having  formerly 
induced  a  body  of  this  tribe  to  settle  with  him,  ravaged  all 
the  Portuguese  villas  around  Tette.  They  bear  the  name 
of  Basimilongwe,  and  some  of  our  men  found  relations  among- 
them.  Sininyane  and  Matenga  also,  two  of  om*  party,  were 
once  inveigled  into  a  Portuguese  expedition  against  Mariancv 
by  the  assertion  that  the  Doctor  had  arrived  and  had  sent 
for  them  to  come  down  to  Senna.  On  finding  that  they  were 
entrapped  to  fight,  they  left,  after  seeing  an  officer  with  a  large 
number  of  Tette  slaves  killed. 

The  Batoka  had  attained  somewhat  civilized  ideas,  in  plant- 
ing and  protecting  various  fruit  and  oil-seed  yielding  trees  oT 


Chap.  XI.  GRAVEYARDS.  281 

the  country.  No  other  tribe  either  plants  or  abstains  from 
cutting  down  fruit  trees^  but  here  we  saw  some  which  had 
been  planted  in  regular  rows,  and  the  trunks  of  which  were 
quite  two  feet  in  diameter.  The  grand  old  Mosibe,  a  tree 
yielding  a  bean  with  a  thin  red  pellicle,  said  to  be  very  fatten- 
ing, had  probably  seen  two  hundred  summers.  Dr.  Kirk 
found  that  the  Mosibe  is  peculiar,  in  being  allied  to  a  species 
met  with  only  in  the  West  Indies.  The  Motsikiri,  sometimes 
called  Mafuta,  yields  a  hard  &t,  and  an  oil  which  is  exported 
fix>m  Inhambane.  It  is  said  that  two  ancient  Batoka  travellers 
went  down  as  far  as  the  Loangwa,  and  finding  the  Macaa  tree 
(ji^uhe  or  2iujrpAtM)  in  fruit,  carried  the  seedall  the  waybackto 
the  great  Falls,  in  order  to  plant  them.  Twoofthese  trees  are  still 
to  be  seen  there,  the  only  specimens  of  the  kind  in  that  region. 
The  Batoka  had  made  a  near  approach  to  the  custom  of 
more  refined  nations  and  had  permanent  graveyards,  either 
on  the  sides  of  hills,  thus  rendered  sacred,  or  under  large 
old  shady  trees ;  they  reverence  the  tombs  of  their  ances- 
tors, and  plant  the  largest  elephants'  tusks,  as  monuments  at 
the  head  of  the  grave,  or  entirely  endoge  it  with  the  choicest 
ivory.  Some  of  the  other  tribes  throw  the  dead  body  into 
the  river  to  be  devoured  by  crocodiles,  or,  sewing  it  up  in  a 
mat,  place  it  on  the  branch  of  a  Baobab,  or  cast  it  in  some 
lonely  gloomy  spot,  surrounded  by  dense  tropical  vegetation, 
where  it  affords  a  meal  to  the  foul  hyenas ;  but  the  Batoka 
reverently  bury  their  dead,  and  regard  the  spot  henceforth 
as  sacred.  The  ordeal  by  the  poison  of  the  muave  is 
resorted  to  by  the  Batoka,  as  well  as  by  the  other  tribes; 
but  a  cock  is  often  made  to  stand  proxy  for  the  supposed  witch. 
Near  the  confluence  of  the  Kafue  the  Mambo,  or  Chief,  with 
some  of  his  headmen,  came  to  our  sleeping-place  with  a  pre- 
sent ;  their  foreheads  were  smeared  with  white  flour,  and  an 


232  ORDEAL  OF  MUAVE.  Chap.  XL 

unusual  seriousness  marked  their  demeanour.  Shortly  before 
our  arrival  they  had  been  accused  of  witchcraft;  conscious  of 
innocence,  they  accepted  the  ordeal,  and  undertook  to 
drink  the  poisoned  muaye.  For  this  purpose  they  made 
a  journey  to  the  sacred  hill  of  Nchomokela,  on  which  repose 
the  bodies  of  their  ancestors ;  and,  after  a  solemn  appeal  to 
the  unseen  spirits  to  attest  the  innocence  of  their  children, 
they  swallowed  the  muaye,  vomited,  and  were  therefore  de- 
clared not  guilty.  It  is  evident  that  they  believe  that  the 
soul  has  a  continued  existence ;  and  that  the  spirits  of  the  de- 
parted know  what  those  they  have  left  behind  them  are  doing, 
and  are  pleased  or  not,  according  as  their  deeds  are  good  or  evil ; 
this  belief  is  universal.  The  owner  of  a  large  canoe  refused  to 
sell  it,  because  it  belonged  to  the  spirit  of  his  father,  who  helped 
him  when  he  killed  the  hippopotamus.  Another,  when  the  bar- 
gain for  his  canoe  was  nearly  completed,  seeing  a  large  serpent 
on  a  branch  of  the  tree  overhead,  refused  to  complete  the  sale, 
alleging  that  this  was  the  spirit  of  his  father  come  to  protest 
agtdnst  it 

Some  of  the  Batoka  Chiefe  must  have  been  men  of  consider- 
able enterprise ;  the  land  of  one,  in  the  western  part  of  this 
country,  was  protected  by  the  Zambesi  on  the  S.,  and  on 
the  N.  and  E.  lay  an  impassable  reedy  marsh,  filled  with 
water  all  the  year  round,  leaving  only  his  western  border 
open  to  invasion:  he  conceived  the  idea  of  digging  a  broad 
and  deep  canal  nearly  a  mfle  in  length,  from  the  reedy 
marsh  to  the  Zambesi,  and,  having  actually  carried  the  scheme 
into  execution,  he  formed  a  large  island,  on  which  his  cattle 
grazed  in  safety,  and  his  com  ripened  from  year  to  year 
secure  from  all  marauders. 

Another  Chief,  who  died  a  number  of  years  ago,  believed 
that  he  had  discovered  a  remedy  for  tsetse-bitten  cattle ;  his 


Chap.  XL  TSETSE  MEDICINE.  233 

son  Moyara  showed  us  a  plants  which  was  new  to  our  botanist, 
and  likewise  told  us  how  the  medicine  was  prepared ;  the  bark 
of  the  root,  and,  what  might  please  our  homoeopathic  friends, 
a  dozen  of  the  tsetse  are  dried,  and  ground  together  into 
a  fine  powder.  This  mixture  is  administered  internally ;  and 
the  cattle  are  fumigated  by  burning  under  them  the  rest 
of  the  plant  collected.  The  treatment  must  be  continued 
for  weeks,  whenever  the  symptoms  of  poison  appear.  This 
medicine,  he  frankly  admitted,  would  not  cure  all  the  bitten 
cattle.  "  For,"  said  he,  "  cattle,  and  men  too,  die  in  spite  of 
medicine ;  but  should  a  herd  by  accident  stray  into  a  tsetse 
distarict  and  be  bitten,  by  this  medicine  of  my  father,  Eampa- 
kampa,  some  of  them  could  be  saved,  while,  without  it,  all  would 
inevitably  die."  He  stipulated  that  we  were  not  to  show  the 
medicine  to  other  people,  and  if  ever  we  needed  it  in  this  region 
we  must  employ  him ;  but  if  we  were  far  off  we  might  make  it 
ourselves ;  and  when  we  saw  it  cure  the  cattle  think  of  him> 
and  send  him  a  present. 

Our  men  made  it  known  everywhere  that  we  wished 
the  tribes  to  live  in  peace,  and  would  use  our  influence 
to  induce  Sekeletu  to  prevent  the  Batoka  of  Moshobo- 
twane  and  the  Makololo  under-chiefs  making  forays  into 
their  country :  they  had  already  suffered  severely,  and  their 
remonstrances  with  their  countryman,  Moshobotwane,  evoked 
only  the  answer,  ^  The  Makololo  have  given  me  a  spear ; 
why  should  I  not  use  it?"  He,  indeed,  it  was,  who,  being 
remarkably  swift  of  foot,  first  guided  the  Makololo  in 
their  conquest  of  the  country.  In  the  character  of  peace- 
makers, therefore,  we  experienced  abundant  hospitality ;  and, 
from  the  Kafue  to  the  Falls,  none  of  our  party  were  allowed  to 
suffer  hunger.  The  natives  sent  to  our  sleeping-places  generous 
presents  of  the  finest  white  meal,  and  fat  capons  to  give  it  a 


234  CORN  EXTENSIVELY  GROWN.  Chap.  XL 

relish,  great  pots  of  beer  to  comfort  our  hearts,  together  \ntii 
pumpkins,  beans,  and  tobacco,  so  that  we  ^'should  sleep 
neither  hungry  nor  thirsty." 

In  travelling  from  the  Eafue  to  the  Zungwe  we  frequently 
passed  several  villages  in  the  course  of  a  day's  march.  In  the 
evening  came  deputies  from  the  villages,  at  which  we  could 
not  stay  to  sleep,  with  liberal  presents  of  food.  It  would 
have  pained  them  to  have  allowed  strangers  to  pass 
without  partaking  of  their  hospitality;  repeatedly  were  we 
hailed  from  huts,  and  asked  to  wait  a  moment  and  drink  a 
little  of  the  beer,  which  was  brought  with  alacrity.  Our  march 
resembled  a  triumphal  procession.  We  entered  and  left  every 
village  amidst  the  cheers  of  its  inhabitants  ;  the  men  clapping 
their  hands,  and  the  women  lullilooing,  with  the  shrill  call, 
*'  Let  us  sleep,"  or  "  Peace."  Passing  through  a  hamlet  one 
day,  our  guide  called  to  the  people,  "  Why  do  you  not  clap 
your  hands  and  salute  when  you  see  men  who  are  wishing  to 
bring  peace  to  the  land  ?"  When  we  halted  for  the  night  it 
was  no  uncommon  thing  for  the  people  to  prepare  our  camp 
entirely  of  their  own  accord ;  some  with  hoes  quickly 
smoothed  the  ground  for  our  beds,  others  brought  dried  grass 
and  spread  it  carefully  over  the  spot ;  some  with  their  small 
axes  speedily  made  a  bush  fence  to  shield  us  from  the'wind ; 
and  if,  as  occasionally  happened,  the  water  was  a  little 
distance  off,  others  hastened  and  brought  it  with  firewood 
to  cook  our  food  with.  They  are  an  industrious  people,  and 
very  fond  of  agriculture.  For  hours  together  we  marched 
through  unbroken  fields  of  mapira,  or  native  com,  of  a  great 
width ;  but  one  can  give  no  idea  of  the  extent  of  land  under 
the  hoe  as  compared  with  any  European  country.  The  extent 
of  surface  is  so  great  that  the  largest  fields  under  culture, 
when  viewed  on  a  wide  landscape,  dwindle  to  mere  spots. 


Chap.  XI.  SOBRIETY  OF  THE  BATOKA.  235 

When  taken  in  connexion  with  the  wants  of  the  people, 
the  coltiyation  on  the  whole  is  most  creditable  to  their 
industry.  They  erect  numerous  granaries  which  give 
their  Tillages  the  appearance  of  being  large;  and,  when 
the  water  of  the  Zambesi  has  subsided,  they  place  large 
quantities  of  grain,  tied  up  in  bundles  of  grass,  and  well 
plastered  over  with  clay,  on  low  sand  islands  for  protection 
from  the  attacks  of  marauding  mice  and  men.  Owing  to  the 
ravages  of  the  weevil,  the  native  com  can  hardly  be  preserved 
until  the  following  crop  comes  in.  However  largely  they  may 
cultivate,  and  however  abundant  the  harvest,  it  must  all  be 
consumed  in  a  year.  This  may  account  for  their  making  so 
much  of  it  into  beer.  The  beer  these  Batoka  or  Bawe  brew 
is  not  the  sour  and  intoxicating  boala  or  pombe,  found  among 
some  other  tribes,  but  sweet,  and  highly  nutritive,  with  only  a 
slight  degree  of  acidity,  sufficient  to  render  it  a  pleasant  drink. 
The  people  were  all  plump,  and  in  good  condition ;  and  we 
never  saw  a  single  case  of  intoxication  among  them,  though 
aU  drank  abundance  of  this  liting,  or  sweet  beer.  Both  men 
fmd  boys  were  eager  to  work  for  very  small  pay.  Our  men 
could  hire  any  number  of  them  to  carry  their  burdens  for  a 
few  beads  a  day.  Our  miserly  and  dirty  ex-cook  had  an  old 
pair  of  trousers  that  some  one  had  given  to  him ;  after  he 
had  long  worn  them  himself,  with  one  of  the  sorely  decayed 
legs  he  hired  a  man  to  carry  his  heavy  load  a  whole  day ; 
a  second  man-carried  it  the  next  day  for  the  other  leg,  and 
what  remained  of  the  old  garment,  without  the  buttons, 
procured  the  labour  of  another  man  for  the  third  day. 

Men  of  remarkable  ability  have  risen  up  among  the 
Africans  from  time  to  time,  as  amongst  other  portions  of  the 
human  family.  Some  have  attracted  the  attention,  and 
excited  the  admiration  of  large  districts  by  their  wisdom. 


236  A  POET  AND  MINSTREL.  Chap.  XL 

Others,  apparently  by  the  powers  of  ventriloquism,  or  by 
peculiar  dexterity  in  throwing  the  spear,  or  shooting  with 
the  bow,  have  been  the  wonder  of  their  generation ;  but  the 
total  absence  of  literature  leads  to  the  loss  of  all  former  ex- 
perience, and  the  wisdom  of  the  wise  has  not  been  handed 
down.  They  have  had  their  minstrels  too,  but  mere  tradi- 
tion preserves  not  their  efiusions.  One  of  these,  and  ap- 
parently a  genuine  poet,  attached  himself  to  our  party  for 
several  days,  and,  whenever  we  halted,  sang  our  praises  to 
the  villagers  in  smooth  and  harmonious  numbers.  It  was  a 
sort  of  blank  verse,  and  each  line  consisted  of  five  syllables. 
The  song  was  short  when  it  first  began,  but  each  day  he  picked 
up  more  information  about  us,  and  added  to  the  poem  until  our 
praises  became  an  ode  of  respectable  length.  When  distance 
from  home  compelled  his  return,  he  expressed  his  regret  at 
leaving  us,  and  was,  of  course,  paid  for  his  useful  and  pleasant 
flatteries.  Another,  though  a  less  gifted  son  of  song,  belonged 
to  the  Batoka  of  our  own  party.  Every  evening,  while  the 
others  were  cooking,  talking,  or  sleeping,  he  rehearsed  his 
songs,  containing  a  history  of  everything  he  had  seen  in  the 
land  of  the  white  men,  and  on  the  way  back.  In  composing, 
extempore,  any  new  piece,  he  was  never  at  a  loss ;  for  if  the 
right  word  did  not  come,  he  halted  not,  but  eked  out  the 
measure  with  a  peculiar  musical  sound  meaning  nothing  at  all. 
He  accompanied  his  recitations  on  the  sansUy  an  instrument 
figured  in  the  woodcut  {c\  the  nine  iron  keys  of  which  are 
played  with  the  thumbs,  while  the  fingers  pass  behind  to  hold 
iL  The  hollow  end  and  ornaments  face  the  breast  of  the 
player.  Persons  of  a  musical  turn,  if  too  poor  to  buy  a  sansa, 
may  be  seen  playing  vigorously  on  an  instrument  made  with  a 
number  of  thick  corn-stalks  sewn  together,  as  a  sansa  frame, 
and  keys  of  split  bamboo,  which,  though  making  but  little 


Chap.  XI.  MUSICAL  INSTRUMESTS.  237 

BOtmd,  BeemB  to  soothe  the  pUyer  himaelt  When  the  instra- 
ment  is  played  with  a  calabash  (a)  as  a  soouding-board,  it 
emits  a  greater  Tolume  of  sound.  Pieces  of  shells  and  tin 
are  added  to  mtdce  a  jingling  accompauimeut,  and  the  cala- 
bash (i)  is  also  omament«d. 


In  musing  over  the  pecnliar  habit  indicated  in  the  name 
"  Bsenda  pezi "  (Go-nakeds),  we  conjectured  that  it  might  be 
an  order  similar  to  that  of  Freemasons,  hut  no  secret 
society  can  be  found  among  the  native  Africau&  A  sort 
of  brotherhood,  called  by  the  Portugaeee  "  Empacosseiros." 
exists  in  Angola,  but  it  only  enjoins  community  of  right  to 
food  in  each  other's  hut ;  and  the  quah'fication  for  admission 
is  ability  to  shoot  the  empacasso  (buBalo  or  gnu).  This  is 
vety  much  the  same  thing  as  that  which  distinguishes  the  bands 
into  which  the  young  Makololo  are  formed  on  circumcision. 
jlliey  thence  forward  consider  each  other  as  in  a  stato  of 
perfect  equality,  and  bound  to  keep  up  the  discipline  of  their 
troop,  and,  in  case  of  cowardice,  to  inflict  punishment    No 


238  OUR  NAKED  FRIEND.  Chap.  XI. 

good,  as  far  as  we  could  leaniy  would  result  to  any  one  in 
this  country  irom  his  knowledge  of  Freemasonry.    A  noble 
specimen  of  the  Baenda  pezi  order  once  visited  us  and  gained 
our  esteem,  though  the  full  dress  in  which  he  stood  consisted 
only  of  a  tobacco-pipe,  with  a  stem  two  feet  long  wound 
round  with  polished  iron.    He  brought  a  UberaL  present 
^'CkKl  made  him  naked,"  he  said,  *^and  he  had  therefore 
never  worn  any  sort  of  clothing."    This  gentleman's  philo- 
sophy is  very  much  like  that  of  some  dirty  people  we  have 
known,  who  justified  their  want  of  fastidiousness  by  saying, 
"fingers  were  made  before  forks."    Early  .next  morning  we 
had  another  interview  with  our  naked  friend,  accompanied 
this  time  by  his  wife  and  daughter,  bearing  two  large  pots 
of  beer,  with  which  he  wished  us  to  refresh  ourselves  before 
starting.    Both  the  women,  as  comely  and  modest-looking 
as  any  we  have  seen  in  Africa,  were  well -clothed,  and 
adorned,  as  indeed  all  their  women  are.     Some  wear  tin 
ear-rings  all  round  the  ear,  and  as  many  as  nine  often  in 
each  ear.    The  men  rub  their  bodies  with  red  ochre.    Some 
plait  a  fillet  two  inches  wide,  of  the  inner  bark  of  trees,  land 
shave  the  hair  off  the  lower  part  of  the  head,  an  inch  above 
the  ears  being  bare;  the  hair,  on  the  upper  part»  having 
been  well  smeared  with  red  ochre  in  oil,  the  fillet  is  bound 
on  to  it,  and  gives  the  head  the  appearance  of  having  on 
a  neat  forage-cap.      Some  strings  of  coarse  beads,  and  a 
little  polished  iron-wire  round  the  arms,  the  never-£Euling 
pipe,  and  a  small  pair  of  iron  tongs  to  lift  the  lighted  coal, 
constitute  the  entire  clothing  of  the  most  dandified  young 
men  of  the  Baenda  pezL     All  their  other  faculties  seem 
fairly  developed ;  but,  as  neither  ridicule  nor  joking  could 
awaken  the  sense  of  shame,  it  is  probable  that  dotliing 

• 

alone  would  arouse  the  dormant  feeling.    Girls  of  eight  or 


Chap.  XI.  POLITE  TOBACOOSMOKERS.  239 

ten  yearSy  nearly  naked,  were  clothed  and  taken  into  the 
Mission-honse  at  Kolobeng  as  nnrses  to  the  children.  In 
a  fortnight  after,  they  hastily  ooyered  their  bosoms,  even 
if  one  only  passed  through  the  sitting-room  in  which  they 
slept  Among  Zulns  the  smaller  the  covering,  the  more 
intense  the  shame  on  accidental  exposure. 

Large  quantities  of  tobacco  are  raised  on  the  lower  bank 
of  the  Zambesi  during  the  winter  months,  and  the  people  are 
perhaps  the  most  inveterate  smokers  in  the  world.  The  pipe 
is  seldom  out  of  their  mouths,  and  they  are  as  polite  smokers 
as  any  ever  met  with  in  a  railway-carriage.  When  they 
came  with  a  present,  although  we  were  in  their  own  country 
they  asked  before  lighting  their  pipes  if  we  had  any  objec- 
tion to  their  smoking  beside  us,  which,  of  course,  we  never 
had.  They  think  that  they  have  invented  an  improved 
method  of  smoking;  a  description  of  it  may  interest  those 
who  are  fond  of  the  weed  at  home.  They  take  a  whiff, 
puff  out  the  grosser  smoke,  then,  by  a  sudden  inhalation, 
contrive  to  catch  and  swallow,  as  they  say,  the  real  essence, 
the  very  spirit  of  the  tob€M5co,  which  in  the  ordinary  way  is 
entirely  lost.  The  Batoka  tobacco  is  farmed  in  the  country 
for  its  strength,  and  it  certainly  is  both  very  strong  and 
very  cheap:  a  few  strings  of  beads  will  purchase  enough 
to  last  any  reasonable  man  for  six  months.  It  caused 
headache  in  the  only  smoker  of  our  party,  from  its  strength, 
but  this  quality  makes  the  natives  come  great  distances  to 
buy  it. 

The  people  above  Kariba  had  never  been  visited  before  by 
foreigners ;  the  chief  of  Eoba,  on  being  asked  if  any  tradition 
existed  of  strangers  having  formerly  come  into  the  country, 
replied,  ''Not  at  all ;  our  Mhers  all  died  without  telling  us 
that  they  had  seen  men  like  you.    To-day  I  am  exalted  in 


240  SLAVE-TBADE  FOLLOWS  US.  Chap.  XL 

seeing  what  they  never  saw.**  Others,  in  reference  to  old  men 
being  in  the  habit  of  telling  wonderful  tales,  said,  ^'  We  are 
the  true  ancients ;  we  have  seen  stranger  things  than  any 
of  onr  ancestors,  in  seeing  you."  The  only  tradition  of 
foreigners  coming  into  the  country  refers  to  the  ascent  of 
Simoens  as  far  as  the  Sanyati,  at  the  entrance  to  the  E^ariba 
gorge.  According  to  the  testimony  of  the  people  of  the 
country  and  the  statement  of  the  companion  of  this  robber 
to  us,  it  was  a  regular  plundering  foray  similar  to  that  of 
Sequasha.  Like  the  Boers  and  others  we  have  known,  this 
man,  who  is  still  alive  at  Tette,  eager  to  make  the  most  of  his 
conquest,  represented  the  people  attacked  to  have  been  Mate- 
bele,  and  on  being  told  that  they  were  Bawe,  a  tribe  of 
Batoka,  he  answered,  "  Well,  we  thought  them  to  be  Mate- 
bele  (Landeens),  because  they  were  naked."  After  accumu- 
lating large  quantities  of  ivory  and  many  slaves,  by  the  aid 
of  his  followers'  firearms,  which  the  people  had  never  before 
encountered,  Simoens  lost  all  the  booty  and  his  life  by  a 
combination  of  the  Chiefs  under  Chisaka,  at  the  rivulet 
Zingesi,  near  to  Mpende. 

After  we  had  passed  up,  however,  a  party  of  slaves,  bdong* 
ing  to  the  two  native  Portuguese  who  assassinated  the  CSiief, 
Mpangwe,  and  took  possession  of  his  lands  at  Zumbo,  followed 
on  our  footsteps,  and,  representing  themselves  to  be  our 
**  children,'*  bought  great  quantities  of  ivory,  fix>m  the  Bawe, 
for  a  few  coarse  beads  a  tusk.  They  also  purchased  ten 
large  new  canoes  to  carry  it,  at  the  rate  of  six  strings  of 
red  or  white  beads,  or  two  fathoms  of  grey  calico,  for  each 
canoe,  and,  at  the  same  cheap  rate,  a  number  of  good-looking 
girls. 

We  had  long  ere  this  become  thoroughly  convinced  that 
the  Government  of  Lisbon  had  been  guilty,  possibly  unin- 


Chap.  XI.  PORTUGUESE  OPPOSITION.  241 

tentionally,  of  double  dealing.  Public  instructions,  as  already 
stated,  had  been  sent  from  Portugal  to  all  the  ofiScials  to 
render  us  every  assistance  in  their  power,  but  these  were 
to  be  understood  with  considerable  reservation.    From  what 
we  observed  it  was  dear  ihat^  with  the  public  orders  to  the 
officials  to  aid  us,  private  instructions  had  come  to  thwart 
us.      It  is  possible  that  these  private  instructions  meant 
only  that  we  were  to  be  watched ;  but  where  nearly  every 
one,  from  Grovemor  to  convict  soldier,  is  an  eager  slave- 
dealer,  such  orders  could  only  mean,  ^'keep  a  shiurp  look 
out  that  your  slave-trade  follows  as   near  their  heels  as 
possible."    We  were  now  so  foUy  convinced  that,  in  open- 
ing  the  country  through  which  no  Portuguese  durst  pre- 
viously pass,  we  were  made  the  unwilling  instruments  of 
extending  the  slave-trade,  that,  had  we  not  been  under  obli- 
gations to  return  with  the  Makololo  to  their  own  country, 
we  should  have  left  the  Zambesi  and  gone  to  the  Bovuma, 
or  to  some  other  inlet  torthe  interior.    It  was  with  bitter 
sorrow  that  we  saw  the  gQod  we  would  have  done  turned  to 
eviL 

We  afterwards  learned  that  no  sooner  was  it  proposed  that 
we  should  go  to  the  Bovuma,  than  the  Govemor-Greneral 
d'Almeida  hastened  up  to  Zanzibar,  and  tried  to  induce  the 
Sultan  to  agree  to  that  river  being  made  the  boundary  be- 
tween him  and  the  Portuguese.  This  movement,  the  effect 
of  instructions  drawn  up  after  information  had  been  obtained 
from  our  letters  being  read  at  the  meetings  of  the  Geo- 
graphical Society,  London,  was  happily  frustrated  by  Colonel 
Bigby ;  and  the  Govemor^General  had  to  be  content  with 
Cape  Delgado  as  the  extreme  limit  of  Portuguese  claims 
northward. 

On  the  Batoka  highlands,  the  invigorating  breezes  disposed 

B 


242  ELEPHANT  KILLED.  Chap.  XI. 

us  to  listen  with  pleasure  to  the  singing  of  birds.  It  might 
be  owing  to  the  greater  cold,  but  the  variety  of  notes  in  their 
warblings  seemed  greater  than,  with  African  birds  in  generaL 
A  pretty  little  black  bird,  with  white  shoulders,  probably  a 
weaver,  but  not  seen  elsewhere,  sat  on  the  topmost  twigs  of 
the  huge  trees,  pouring  forth  its  melody  as  if  glad,  among 
the  deserted  villages,  once  more  to  see  the  face  of  man.  It 
flew  from  tree  to  tree,  and  sang  on  the  wing,  though  not 
soaring  like  the  lark.  It  bears  firost,  and  to  the  bird-fancier 
or  Acclimatization  Society  might  be  an  interesting  addition  to 
their  birds  of  song.  It  is  not  the  honey-guide  alone  that  is 
attached  to  man.  The  whydah-bird  and  waterwagtail  are 
held  sacred  by  the  natives  of  different  parts,  and  consequently 
come  without  fear  close  to  human  kind.  Were  our  small  birds 
not  so  much  persecuted  by  small  boys,  their  attachment  would 
be  more  apparent,  even  in  England. 

Seabenzo,  the  chief  whom  we  found  on  the  Tyotyo 
rivulet,  had  accompanied  us  some  distance  over  the  undu- 
lating highland  plains ;  and  as  he  and  our  own  men  needed 
meat,  we  killed  an  elephant.  This,  unless  one  really  needs 
the  meat,  or  is  eager  for  the  ivory,  can  scarcely  be  looked 
back  to  without  regret  These  noble  beasts,  capable  of  being 
BO  useful  to  man  in  the  domestic  state,  are,  we  fear,  destined, 
at  no  distant  date,  to  disappear  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 
Yet,  in  the  excitement,  all  this  and  more  was  at  once  for- 
gotten, and  we  joined  in  the  assault  as  eagerly  as  those  who 
think  only  of  the  fat  and  savoury  flesh. 

The  writings  of  Harris  and  Gordon  Gumming  contain  such 
full  and  nauseating  details  of  indiscriminate  slaughter  of  the 
wild  animals,  that  one  wonders  to  see  almost  every  A&ican 
book  since  besmeared  with  feeble  imitations  of  these  great 
hunters'  tales.    Some  tell  of  escapes  from  situations  which^ 


Chap.  XI. 


NUMBEBS  ANNUALLY  SLAIN. 


243 


from  OUT  knowledge  of  the  natnre  of  the  animals,  it  re- 
quires a  painfdl  stretch  of  charity  to  believe  ever  existed, 
even  in  dreams;  and  others  of  deeds  which  lead  one  to 
conclnde  that  the  proportion  of  ''born  batchers,^  in  the 
population,  is  as  great  as  of  pnblic-honse  keepers  to  the 
people  in  Glasgow. 

The  amonnt  of  ivory  taken  to  the  marts  of  the  world  shows 
that  about  30,000  elephants  are  annually  slain.*    It  is  highly 


*  After  a  lectnre  by  Professor  Owen, 
F.B£.,  at  ihe  Society  of  Arta^  London, 
17th  Dec,  1856,  on  the  "lyoiy  and 
Teeth  of  Gommeroe,"  Mr.  P.  L.  Sim- 
monds  gave  some  trade  statistics  from 
which  it  was  calculated  Ihat  upwards 
of  30,000  elephants  annually  perished. 
In  one  cargo  of  1276  elephants'  tusks, 
weighing  in  all  20,953  lbs.,  the  ayerage 
weight  was  16^  lbs.  In  another  cargo 
556  elephants*  tusks  weighed  9698  lbs., 
giTing  an  ayerage  of  17i  lbs.  In  the 
accompanying  note  with  which  Mr. 
ginmumds  has  kindly  obliged  us,  the 
vnxry  mentioned  refers  only  to  our 
own  trade;  the  exports  from  India 
and  Biam  to  China,  from  Zanzibar, 
and  tiie  East  Ooast  to  India  and  the 
United  States,  and  from  the  French 
African  possessions  to  i^rance,  are 
not  included.  He  takes  the  ayerage 
weight  at  SO  lbs.,  and  estimates  the 
number  killed  annually  at  80,000— as 
staled  in  the  toxi  Elephants,  as  a  rule, 
Beyer  died  iheir  tusks.  We  haye  only 
met  with  pieces  broken*  off  when  the 
animal  was  engaged  in  digging  up  the 
roots  of  trees;— so,  practically,  eyery 
tusk  seen  in  the  market  belonged  to 
an  elephant  new  dead ;  and,  consider- 
ing the  number  of  oalyes  destroyed 
before  the  tusk  becomes  of  any  yalue 
to  the  trader,  it  is  probable  that  40,000 


is  about  the  actual  number  annually 
kiUed. 

We  haye  made  no  reference  to  what 
may  be  called  monster  tusks,  of  from 
130  to  150  lbs.— scmie  are  spoken  of 
as  upwards  of  200  lbs.  Insomepartit 
the  ayerage  tusk  may  weigh  60  Ibe. ; 
but  aa  a  set-off  to  this  in  the  oafcula- 
tion  it  must  be  remembered  that  one 
of  the  places  not  included,  namely, 
Zanzibar,  for  many  years  receiyed 
annually  20,000  tnaks. 

"  Importation  of  lyoBT  of  aU  kineU 
into  the  United  Kingdom — elephanta' 
tusks,  wahnses^  and  hippopotamus 
teeth: — 


CwiM, 

£ 

1856 

9,866 

343.517 

1857 

9,890 

421,318 

1858 

12,279 

410,608 

1859 

10,821 

836,147 

1860 

10,854 

832,166 

1861 

11,163 

297,491 

1862 

11,605 

262,962 

1863 

9,290 

256,059 

8/85,768 

2,660,268 

Lyerag 

B  10,721 

882,533 

'*  The  import  of  hippopotamus  teeth 
and  walrus  is  scarcely  more  than  10  or 
12  tons  a  year ;  therefore  it  is  scarcely 
worth  considering.  The  difficulty  is 
what  ayerage  weight  to  take  the  tusks 
at.    30  lbs.  may  be  considered  a  £ur 

B  2 


244 


HERD  OF  FEMALE  ELEPHANTS. 


Chap.  XI. 


probablei  that  as  the  great  size  of  the  ears  exhibited  on 
ancient  Boman  coins  prove  the  animals  in  use  by  that 
nation  to  have  been  of  the  African,  and  not  of  the  Asiatic 
species,  they  mnst  have  been  tamed  by  the  negroes  in  the 
interior  of  Africa.  This  is  the  more  likely,  inasmuch  as 
there  is  no  instance  on  record  of  ancient  Europeans  daring 
to  tame  this  animal.  Never,  since  the  time  of  the  Bomans 
and  Carthaginians,  has  the  African  elephant  been  tamed, 
though  it  was  believed  to  be  much  more  sagacious  than  the 
Asiatic  species. 

In  this  hunt  a  small  herd  of  female  elephants,  with  their 
young,  were  encountered  near  a  belt  of  open  forest  near 
Motunta.  Three  rifle-balls,  including  a  Jacob's  shell,  were 
lodged  in  the  body  of  the  nearest ;  a  smaller  one  chai^;ed 
back,  but  stopped  on  seeing  so  many  enemies,  and  went  off 
with  the  others.  The  herd  waited  twice  for  the  wounded 
one,  which  was  not  able  to  keep  up,  and  only  left  her 
to  her  fate  when  self-preservation  became  the  more  im- 
perious  law.  This  made  us  imagine  that  she  was  perhaps 
the  mother  of  the  herd.  She  ran  a  mile  and  a  half,  and  t^en 
stopped  to  lean  against  a  tree.  A  few  of  our  men  approached, 
and  fired  a  volley,  she  went  on  a  few  paces,  shook  her  trunk, 
dropped  gently  on  one  knee,  then  on  the  other;  slowly  the 
two  hindlegs  bent,  and  she  felL*   We  read  it  now  with  a  pang. 


average.  If  AfHcan  do  not  average 
much  more  than  20  or  25  lbs.,  while 
for  Zanzibar  and  Mbeambique  the 
aveiBge  wonld  be  60  to  80  lbs.,  tak- 
ing the  aTeiage  at  30  lbs.  this  wonld 
imply  the  annnal  slaughter  of  20,000 
elephants  a  year;  and,  taking  the 
eastern  and  other  markets,  the  num- 
ber may  be  fidrly  estimated  at  80,000 
animals  killed  every  year  for  the  ivory." 


*  The  elephant  was  an  ordinary  sized 
finale,  and  her  measurement  may  be 
of  interest  to  some  :— 

Ft  In. 
Height  at  withers       ..     ..  8    2| 
Circumferenoe  of  forefoot   ..  S    7 
Length  from  tip  of  trunk  to 

eye 6  10 

From  eye  to  eye 0  14| 

Eye  to  meatus  of  ear  ..     ..  1    3} 


Chap.  XI. 


A  NIGHTS  FASTING. 


245 


A  shont  of  exultation  rose  &om  the  men,  who  rushed  up,  and 
danoed  round  the  fedlen  animal  with  wild  shouts  of  triumph. 
"When  we  came  up,  Tuba  Mokoro  approached  the  Doctor, 
whose  Jacob's  shell  had  inflicted  a  mortal  wound  behind  the 
orifice  of  the  ear,  and,  with  great  self-complacency,  said, 
"  You  see  it  was  speed  that  did  it — ^my  speed.  I  kept  up 
while  all  the  others  lagged  behind,  though  I  fell  and  hurt  my 
knee.    Ton  will  give  me  a  cloth,  won't  you  ?  " 

The  men,  having  had  no  meat  for  the  last  three  or  four  days, 
thought  that  they  could  eat  the  elephant  all  themselves,  and 
were  not  disposed  to  let  Seabenzo  and  his  people  have  any ; 
but,  after  gorging  themselves  all  night,  and  grumbling  at  the 
English  for  possessing  so  little  practical  sense  as  to  kill  an 
elephant,  and  then  not  wait  long  enough  to  eat  it  up,  they 
gave  Seabenzo  upwards  of  three-quarters  of  it,  and  we 
presented  him  with  the  tusks.  The  proboscis  of  the  African 
elephant  is  so  full  at  the  insertion  into  the  upper  part  of 
the  face,  that  the  animal  appears  to  have  a  very  convex 
forehead.    The  trunk  when  cut  off  close  to  the  bone  is  so 


FL  In. 
0  16} 
10 


Eye  to  lower  jaw 
Eye  to  insertioii  of  tail       . .  9 
From  insertioii  to  end  of  tall  3 
Semi-circumference  at  mid- 
dle of  chest      6 

Semi-circmnferenoe  of  abdo- 
men to  middle  of  back 
[   From  neck  to  forefoot 
From  abdomen  to  hindfoot  3 
From  meatus  of  ear  horizon- 
tally to  external  edge 
Diagonal  breadth  of  ear 
',   Height  from  hindfoot 

Measurement  of  faU-grown  foetal 
elephant*  haying  four  placentae  with 

cotyledons,  and  near  its  full  time : — 


7 
5 


2 
4 

7 


0 

li 
1 

3i 

9 
8 
6 


Ft.  in. 

Height  at  withers       ..     ..2  6 

Circumference  of  forefoot  ..1  1 

Height  at  hindleg       ..      ..2  5 
From  tip  of  trunk  to  tip  of 

tail 6  0 

From  tip  of  trunk  to  eye    ..  1  7| 
From  eye  to  the  meatus  of 

ear     0  7J 

Horizontal  diameter  of  ear 

from  meatus 0  8 

Diagonal  breadth  of  ear      ..  1  3^ 
Semi-circimiference  of  chest  1  7 
Semi-circiunference  of  abdo- 
men    1  8^ 

Length  of  cord 3  7 


246  METEOR.  Chap,  XI. 

heayy^  that  onr  companions  declared  only  two  or  three  men 
in  their  tribe  could  lift  one. 

A  herd  of  elephants  makes  sad  havoc  among  the  trees, 
which  cover  the  highlands  only  in  patches.  They  break  oflf 
great  branches  as  easfly  as  we  could  snap  the  shoots  of 
celery ;  and  they  often  break  down  goodnrized  trees  in 
the  mere  wantonness  of  strength^  without  even  tasting 
ihem. 

During  the  time  we  remamed  at  Motunta  a  splendid 
meteor  was  observed  to  lighten  the  whole  heavens.  The 
observer's  back  was  turned  to  it,  but  on  looking  round  the 
streak  of  light  was  seen  to  remain  on  its  path  some  seconds. 
This  streak  is  usually  explained  to  be  only  the  continuance  of 
the  impression  made  by  the  shining  body  on  the  retina.  This 
cannot  be,  as  in  this  case  the  meteor  was  not  actually  seen 
and  yet  the  streak  was  clearly  perceived.  The  rays  of 
planets  and  stars  also  require  another  explanation  than  that 
usually  given. 

Fruit-trees  and  gigantic  wild  fig-trees,  and  circles  of  stones 
on  which  com  safes  were  placed,  with  worn  grindstones,  point 
out  where  the  villages  once  stood.  The  only  reason  now 
assigned,  for  this  fine  country  remaining  desolate,  is  the  fear 
of  fresh  visitations  by  the  Matebele.  The  country  now 
slopes  gradually  to  the  west  into  the  Makololo  Valley.  Two 
days'  march  from  the  Batoka  village  nearest  the  highlands, 
we  met  with  some  hunters  who  were  burning  the  dry  gra^ 
in  order  to  attract  the  game  by  the  fireah  vegetation  which 
speedily  springs  up  afterwards.  The  grass,  as  already  re- 
marked, is  excellent  for  cattle.  One  species,  with  leaves 
having  finely  serrated  edges,  and  of  a  reddish-brown  colour, 
we  noticed  our  men  eating :  it  tastes  exactly  like  liquorice- 
root,  and  is  named  kezu-kezu.     The  tsetse,  known  to  the 


Chap.  XI.  DISTANT  VIEW  OP  THE  PALLS.  247 

Batoka  by  the  name  ndoka,  does  not  ezigt  here,  though 
buffaloes  and  elephants  abound. 

A  small  trap  in  the  path,  baited  with  a  monse»  to  catch 
spotted  cats  (F.  ffenetta),  is  usually  the  first  indication 
that  we  are  drawing  near  to  a  village;  but  when  we  get 
within  the  sounds  of  pounding  com,  oockcrowing,  or  the 
merry  shouts  of  children  at  play,  we  know  that  the  huts 
ure  but  a  few  yards  off,  though  the  trees  conceal  them 
from  view.  We  reached,  on  the  4th  of  August,  Moa- 
chemba,  the  first  of  the  Batoka  villages  which  now  owe 
allegiance  to  Sekeletu,  and  could  see  distinctly  with  the 
naked  eye,  in  the  great  valley  spread  out  before  us,  the 
columns  of  vapour  rising  from  the  Victoria  Falls,  though 
upwards  of  20  miles  distant.  We  were  informed  that^  the  rains 
having  failed  this  year,  the  com  crops  had  been  lost,  and 
great  scarcity  and  much  hunger  prevailed  from  Sesheke  to 
linyantL  Some  of  the  reports  which  the  men  had  heard 
from  the  Batoka  of  the  hills  concerning  their  families, 
were  here  confirmed.  Takelang's  wife  had  been  killed  by 
Mashotlane,  the  headman  at  the  Falls,  on  a  charge,  as  usual, 
of  witchcraft.  Inchikola's  two  wives,  believing  him  to  be 
dead,  had  married  again ;  and  Masakasa  was  intensely  dis- 
gusted to  hear  that  two  years  ago  his  friends,  upon  a  report  of 
his  death,  threw  his  shield  over  the  Falls,  slaughtered  all  his 
oxen,  and  held  a  species  of  wild  Irish  wake,  in  honour  of  his 
memory :  he  said  he  meant  to  disown  them,  and  to  say,  when 
Ihey  come  to  salute  him,  ^- 1  am  dead.  lamnothere.  Ibelong 
to  another  world,  and  should  stink  if  I  came  among  you." 

All  the  sad  news  we  had  previously  heard,  of  the  disastrous 
results  which  followed  the  attempt  of  a  party  of  missionaries, 
under  the  Bev.  H.  Eelmore,  to  plant  the  Grospel  at  Linyanti, 
were  here  fully  confirmed.    Several  of  the  missionaries  and 


248  MOSHOBOTWANE.  Chap.  XI. 

their  natiTe  attendants,  from  Kununany  had  saccumbed  to 
the  fever,  and  the  survivors  had  retired  some  weeks  before 
onr  arrival.  We  remained  the  whole  of  the  7th  beside  the 
village  of  the  old  Batoka  chief,  Moshobotwane,  the  stoutest  man 
we  have  seen  in  AMca.  The  cause  of  our  delay  here  was  a 
severe  attack  of  fever  in  Charles  Livingstone.  He  took  a 
dose  of  our  fever  pills ;  was  better  on  the  8th,  and  marched 
three  hours;  then  on  the  9th  marched  eight  miles  to  the 
Great  Falls,  and  spent  the  rest  of  the  day  in  the  fatiguing 
exerdse  of  sight-seeing.  We  were  in  the  very  same  valley 
as  Linyanti,  and  tins  was  the  same  fever  which  treated,  or 
rather  maltreated,  with  only  a  little  Dover's  powder,  proved 
so  fatal  to  poor  Helmore ;  the  symptoms,  too,  were  identical 
with  those  afterwards  described  by  non-medical  persons,  as 
those  of  poison. 

We  gave  Moshobotwane  a  present,  and  a  pretty  plain 
exposition  of  what  we  thought  of  his  bloody  forays  among 
his  Batoka  brethren.  A  scolding  does  most  good  to  the 
recipient,  when  put  alongside  some  obliging  act.  He  certainly 
did  not  take  it  ill,  as  was  evident  from  what  he  gave  us  in 
return ;  which  consisted  of  a  liberal  supply  of  meal,  milk, 
and  an  ox.  He  has  a  large  herd  of  cattle,  and  a  tract  of  fine 
pasture-land  on  the  beautiful  stream  Lekone.  A  home- 
feeling  comes  over  one,  even  in  the  interior  of  Africa,  at 
seeing  once  more  cattle  grazing  peacefully  in  the  meadows. 
The  tsetse  inhabits  the  trees  which  bound  the  pasture-land 
on  the  west ;  so,  should  the  herdsman  forget  his  duty,  the 
cattle  straying  might  be  entirely  lost.  The  women  of  this 
village  were  more  numerous  than  the  men,  the  result  of 
the  chief's  marauding.  The  Batoka  wife  of  Sima  came  up 
from  the  Falls,  to  welcome  her  husband  back,  bringing  a 
present  of  the  best  fruits  of  the  country.    Her  husband  was 


Chap.  XI.  MEET  MAKOLOLO  NEAR  FALLS.  249 

tbe  only  one  of  the  party  who  had  brought  a  wift  from  Tette, 
namely,  the  girl  whom  he  obtained  from  Chisaka  for  his 
feats  of  dancing.  According  to  our  ideas,  his  first  wife  could 
hardly  haye  been  pleased  at  seeing  the  second  and  younger 
one ;  but  she  took  her  away  home  with  her,  while  the  husband 
remained  with  us.  In  going  down  to  the  Fall  village  we 
met  several  of  the  real  Makololo.  They  are  Ughter  in  colour 
than  the  other  txibes,  being  of  a  rich  warm  brown ;  and  they 
speak  in  a  slow  deliberate  manner,  distinctly  pronouncing 
every  word.  On  reaching  the  village  opposite  Ealai,  we  had 
an  interview  with  the  Makololo  headman,  Mashotlane:  he 
came  to  the  shed  in  which  we  were  seated,  a  little  boy  car* 
rying  his  low  three-legged  stool  before  him :  on  this  he  sat 
down  vrith  becoming  dignity,  looked  round  him  for  a  few 
seconds,  then  at  us,  and,  saluting  us  with  ^Bumela**  (good 
morning,  or  hail),  ho  gave  us  some  boiled  hippopotamus 
meat,  took  a  piece  himself,  and  then  handed  the  rest  to  his 
attendants,  who  soon  ate  it  up.  He  defended  his  forays  on 
the  ground  that,  when  he  went  to  collect  tribute,  the  Batoka 
attacked  him,  and  killed  some  of  his  attendants.  The  ex- 
cuses made  for  their  little  wars  are  often  the  very  same  as 
those  made  by  Ciesar  in  his  '  Commentaries.'  Few  admit, 
like  old  Moshobotwane,  that  they  fought  because  they  had 
the  power,  and  a  fair  prospect  of  conquering.  We  found 
here  Pitsane,  who  had  accompanied  the  Doctor  to  St.  Paul 
de  Loanda.  He  had  been  sent  by  Sekeletu  to  purchase  three 
horses  from  a  trading  party  of  Griquas  from  Euruman,  who 
cliaiged  nine  large  tusks  apiece  for  yery  wretched  animals. 

In  the  evening,  when  all  was  still,  one  of  our  men,  Takelang, 
fired  his  musket,  and  cried  out,  "  I  am  weeping  for  my  wife : 
my  court  is  desolate :  I  have  no  home ;"  and  then  uttered  a 
loud  wail  of  anguish. 


250  VICTOBIA  FALLS.  Chap.  XH. 


CHAPTEB  XIL 

Mosi-oft-tanya,  or  Victoria  Falls  —  Visit  Gkuden  Island — Woids  &il  to 
describe  Uie  Falls  —  Twice  the  depth  of  Niagara — Mosi-oartunya  bears  the 
palm — Filled  native  mind  with  awe — No  Portoguese  record  of  than  — 
Two  sUves  reach  Tette  from  Oassange  —  And  make  the  *'  Portugueie  road  " 
across  Africa — Masbotlane,  and  his  prisoner. 

We  proceeded  next  morning,  9th  August,  1860,  to  see  the 
Victoria  Falls.  Mosi-oa-tunya  is  the  Makololo  name,  and 
means  smoke  sounding;  Seongo  or  Chongwe,  meaning  the 
Eainbow,  or  the  place  of  the  Bainbow,  was  the  more  ancient 
term  they  bore.  We  embarked  in  canoes,  belonging  to  Tuba 
Mokoro,  '^  smasher  of  canoes,"  an  ominous  name ;  but  he  alone 
it  seems  knew  the  medicine  which  insures  one  against  ship- 
wreck in  the  rapids  above  the  Falls.  For  some  miles  the 
river  was  smooth  and  tranquil,  and  we  glided  pleasantly 
over  water  clear  as  crystal,  and  past  lovely  islands  densely 
covered  with  a  tropical  vegetation.  Noticeable  among  the 
many  trees  were  the  lofty  Hyphsene  and  Borassus  palms; 
the  graceful  wild  date-palm,  with  its  fruit  in  golden  dusters, 
and  the  umbrageous  mokononga,  of  cypress  form,  with  its 
dark-green  leaves  and  scarlet  fruit.  Many  flowers  peeped 
out  near  the  water's  edge,  some  entirely  new  to  us,  and 
others,  as  the  convolvulus,  old  acquaintances. 

But  our  attention  was  quickly  called  from  the  charming 
islands  to  the  dangerous  rapids,  down  which  Tuba  might 
unintentionally  shoot  us.  To  confess  the  truth,  the  very 
ugly  aspect  of  these  roaring  rapids  could  scarcely  fail  to 
cause  some  uneasiness  in  the  minds  of  new-comers.    It  is 


Chap.  Xn.  DANGEROUS  RAPIDS.  251 

only  when  the  river  is  very  low,  as  it  was  now,  that  any 
one  durst  venture  to  the  island  to  which  we  were  bound.  If 
one  went  during  the  period  of  flood,  and  fortunately  hit  the 
island,  he  would  be  obliged  to  remain  there  till  the  water 
subsided  again,  if  he  lived  so  long.  Both  hippopotami  and 
elephants  have  been  known  to  be  swept  over  the  Falls,  and  of 
course  smashed  to  pulp. 

Before  entering  the  race  of  waters,  we  were  requested 
not  to  speak,  as  our  talking  might  diminish  the  virtue  of 
the  medicine ;  and  no  one  with  such  boiling  eddying  rapids 
before  his  eyes,  would  think  of  disobeying  the  orders  of 
a  *^  canoe-smasher."  It  soon  became  evident  that  there  was 
sound  sense  in  this  request  of  Tuba's,  although  the  rea- 
son assigned  was  not  unlike  that  of  the  canoe-man  from 
Sesheke,  who  begged  one  of  our  party  not  to  whistle,  be- 
cause whistling  made  the  wind  come.  It  was  the  duty  of 
the  man  at  the  bow  to  look  out  ahead  for  the  proper  course, 
and  when  he  saw  a  rock  or  snag,  to  call  out  to  the  steers- 
man. Tuba  doubtless  thought  that  talking  on  board  might 
divert  the  attention  of  his  steersman,  at  a  time  when  the 
neglect  of  an  order,  or  a  slight  mistake,  would  be  sure  to 
spiU  us  all  into  the  chafing  river.  There  were  places  where 
the  utmost  exertions  of  both  men  had  to  be  put  forth  in 
order  to  force  the  canoe  to  the  only  safe  part  of  the  rapid, 
and  to  prevent  it  from  sweeping  down  broadside  on,  where 
in  a  twinkUng  we  should  have  found  ourselves  floundering 
among  the  plotuses  and  cormorants,  which  were  engaged 
in  diying  for  their  breakfast  of  small  fisL  At  times  it 
seemed  as  if  nothing  could  save  us  from  dashing  in  our 
headlong  race  against  the  rocks  which,  now  that  the  river 
was  low,  jutted  out  of  the  water;  but,  just  at  the  very 
nick  of  time,  Tuba  passed  the  word  to  the  steersman,  and 


252  VISIT  GAEDEN  ISLAND.  Chap.  XIL 

then  with  ready  pole  turned  the  canoe  a  little  aside,  and  we 
glided  swiftly  past  the  threatened  danger.  Never  was  canoe 
more  admirably  managed :  once  only  did  the  medicine  seem 
to  have  lost  something  of  its  efficacy.  We  were  driving 
swiftly  down,  a  black  rock,  over  which  the  white  foam  flew, 
lay  directly  in  onr  path,  the  pole  was  planted  against  it 
as  readily  as  ever,  but  it  slipped,  just  as  Tuba  put  forth 
his  strength  to  tiun  the  bow  ofil  We  struck  hard,  and 
were  half-full  of  water  in  a  moment ;  Tuba  recovered  him- 
self as  speedily,  shoved  off  the  bow,  and  shot  the  canoe  into 
a  still  shallow  place,  to  bale  out  the  water.  Here  we  were 
given  to  miderstand  that  it  was  not  the  medicine  which  was 
at  fault ;  that  had  lost  none  of  its  virtue ;  the  accident  was 
owing  entirely  to  Tuba  having  started  without  his  break£Eist 
Need  it  be  said  we  never  let  Tuba  go  without  that  meal 
again? 

We  landed  at  the  head  of  Garden  Island,  which  is  situated 
near  the  middle  of  the  river  and  on  the  Up  of  the  Falls.  On 
reaching  that  lip,  and  peering  over  the  giddy  height,  the 
wondrous  and  unique  character  of  the  magnificent  cascade  at 
once  burst  upon  us. 

It  is  rather  a  hopeless  task  to  endeavour  to  convey  an 
idea  of  it  in  words,  since,  as  was  remarked  on  the  spot,  an 
accomplished  painter,  even  by  a  number  of  views,  could 
but  impart  a  faint  impression  of  the  glorious  scene.  The 
probable  mode  of  its  formation  may  perhaps  help  to  the  con- 
ception of  its  peculiar  shape.  Niagara  has  been  formed  by  a 
wearing  back  of  the  rock  over  which  the  river  falls ;  and, 
during  a  long  course  of  ages,  it  has  gradually  receded,  and  left 
a  broad,  deep,  and  pretty  straight  trough  in  front  It  goes  on 
wearing  back  daily,  and  may  yet  discharge  the  lakes  from 
which  its  river — ^the  St  Lawrence — ^flows.    But  the  Victoria 


Chap.  XH.  GREAT  DEPTH  OP  THE  FALLS.  253 

Falls  have  been  formed  by  a  crack  right  across  the  riTer,  in 
the  hard,  black,  basaltic  rock  which  there  formed  the  bed  of 
the  Zambesi  The  lips  of  the  crack  are  still  quite  sharp,  saye 
about  three  feet  of  the  edge  over  which  the  river  roUs.  The 
walls  go  sheer  down  from  the  lips  without  any  projecting 
crag,  or  symptom  of  stratification  or  dislocation.  When  the 
mighty  rift  occurred,  no  change  of  level  took  place  in  the 
two  parts  of  the  bed  of  the  river  thus  rent  asunder,  conse- 
quently, in  coming  down  the  river  to  Grarden  Island,  the 
water  suddenly  disappears,  and  we  see  the  opposite  side  of 
the  cleft,  with  grass  and  trees  growing  where  once  the 
river  ran,  on  the  same  level  as  that  part  of  its  bed  on 
which  we  sail  The  first  crack  is,  in  length,  a  few  yards 
more  than  the  breadth  of  the  Zambesi,  which  by  measure- 
ment we  found  to  be  a  little  over  1860  yards,  but  this 
number  we  resolved  to  retain  as  indicating  the  year  in 
which  the  Fall  was  for  the  first  time  carefully  examined. 
The  main  stream  here  runs  nearly  north  and  south,  and  the 
deft  across  it  is  nearly  east  and  west.  The  depth  of  the  rift 
was  measured  by  lowering  a  line,  to  the  end  of  which  a  few 
bullets  and  a  foot  of  white  cotton  doth  were  tied.  One  of 
us  lay  with  his  head  over  a  projecting  crag,  and  watched  the 
descending  calico,  till,  after  his  companions  had  paid  out  810 
feet,  the  weight  rested  on  a  sloping  projection,  probably  50 
feet  fiom  the  water  below,  the  actual  bottom  being  still 
further  down.  The  white  cloth  now  appeared  the  size  of  a 
crown-piece.  On  measuring  the  width  of  this  deep  cleft  by 
sextant,  it  was  found  at  Garden  Island,  its  narrowest  part,  to 
be  eighty  yards,  and  at  its  broadest  somewhat  more.  Into 
this  chasm,  of  twice  the  depth  of  Niagara-fiEiIl,  the  river,  a 
full  mile  wide,  rolls  with  a  deafening  roar ;  and  this  is  Mosi- 
oa-tunya  or  the  Victoria  Falls. 


254  THE  ZAMBESI.  Chap.  XH. 

Looking  from  Grarden  Island,  down  to  the  bottom  of  the 
abyss,  nearly  half  a  mile  of  water,  which  has  fallen  over  that 
portion  of  the  Falls  to  our  right,  or  west  of  our  point  of  view, 
is  seen  collected  in  a  narrow  channel  twenty  or  thirty  yards 
wide,  and  flowing  at  exactly  right  angles  to  its  preyions 
course,  to  our  left ;  while  the  other  half,  or  that  which  fell 
over  the  eastern  portion  of  the  Falls,  is  seen  in  the  left  of  the 
narrow  channel  below,  comingtowards  our  right.  Both  waters 
unite  midway,  in  a  fearful  boiling  whirlpool,  and  find  an 
outlet  by  a  crack  situated  at  right  angles  to  tlie  fissure  of 
the  Falls.  This  outlet  is  about  1170  yards  from  the  western 
end  of  the  chasm,  and  some  600  from  its  eastern  end ;  the 
whirlpool  is  at  its  commencement  The  Zambesi,  now  ap- 
parently not  more  than  twexity  or  thirty  yards  wide,  rushes 
and  surges  south,  through  the  narrow  escape-dbannel  for 
130  yards;  then  enters  a  second  chasm  somewhat  deeper, 
and  nearly  parallel  with  the  first  Abandoning  the  bottom 
of  the  eastern  half  of  this  second  chasm  to  the  growth  of 
large  trees,  it  turns  sharply  off  to  the  west,  and  forms  a 
promontory,  with  the  escape-channel  at  its  point,  of  1170 
yards  long,  and  416  yards  broad  at  the  base.  After  reach- 
ing this  base,  the  river  runs  abruptly  round  the  head  of 
another  promontory,  and  flows  away  to  the  east,  in  a  third 
chasm;  then  glides  round  a  third  promontory,  much  n^- 
rower  than  the  rest,  and  away  back  to  the  west,  in  a  fourth 
chasm;  and  we  could  see  in  the  distance  that  it  appeared 
to  round  still  another  promontory,  and  bend  once  more  in 
another  chasm  towards  the  east  In  this  gigantic,  sdgzag^ 
yet  narrow  trough,  the  rocks  are  all  so  sharply  cut  and 
angular,  that  the  idea  at  once  arises  that  the  hard  basaltic 
trap  must  have  been  riven  into  its  present  shape  by  a  force 
acting  from  beneath,  and  that  this  probably  took  place,  when 


Chap.  XII.        BEST  YIEW  OF  THE  GREAT  FALL.  255 

the  ancient  inland  seas  were  let  off  by  similar  fissnres  nearer 
the  ocean« 

The  land  beyond,  or  on  the  south  of  the  Falls,  retains,  as 
already  remarked,  the  same  level  as  before  the  rent  was 
made.  It  is  as  if  the  trongh  below  Niagara  were  bent  right 
and  left,  several  times  before  it  reached  the  railway  bridge. 
The  land  in  the  supposed  bends  being  of  the  same  height 
as  that  above  the  Fall,  would  give  standing-places,  or 
points  of  view,  of  the  same  nature  as  that  from  the 
railway-bridge,  but  the  nearest  would  be  only  eighty  yards, 
instead  of  two  miles  (the  distance  to  the  bridge)  from 
the  face  of  the  cascade.  The  tops  of  the  promontories 
are  in  general  flat,  smooth,  and  studded  with  trees.  The 
first  with  its  base  on  the  east,  is  at  one  place  so  narrow, 
that  it  would  be  dangerous  to  walk  to  its  extremity.  On 
the  second,  however,  we  found  a  broad  rhinoceros  path  and 
a  hut;  but,  unless  the  builder  were  a  hermit^  with  a  pet  rhino- 
ceros, we  cannot  conceive  what  beast  or  man  ever  went  there 
for.  On  reaching  the  apex  of  this  second  eastern  promontory 
we  saw  the  great  river,  of  a  deep  sea-green  colour,  now  sorely 
compressed,  gliding  away,  at  least  400  feet  below  us.* 

Garden  Island,  when  the  river  is  low,  commands  the  best 
view  of  the  Great  Fall  chasm,  as  also  of  the  promontory  op- 


*  We  lutye  twice  used  the  word 
"glide**  in  the  aboTe  desoription,  and 
itidi  to  conyey  the  idea  that  the  river, 
although  so  tom,  toesed,  and  buffeted 
in  the  FaU  chasm,  slips  round  the 
points  of  the  promontories  with  a  re- 
sistless flow,  mibroken  save  by  a 
peculiar  chtmiing,  eddying  motion; 
Ihis  gaye  ns  the  impression  that  the 
cleft  most  be  prodigiously  deep  to 
allow  all  the  water  poured  into  it  to 
80  imtamnltaonsiy  away ;  and  it 


may  here  be  remarked  that  in  the 
frontispiece,  a  sketch  of  which  was 
sent  to  Sir  Roderick  Mnrchison 
firom  the  spot  in  1860,  the  land 
fonning  the  promontories  is  neces- 
sarily depressed  to  exhibit  the  Falls; 
though  it  is  not  so  in  nature.  The 
foreground  of  this  bird's-eye  view  has 
more  vegetation  than  actually  ap- 
pears ;  faraway  from  the  influence  of 
the  vapour,  the  rocks  are  rather 
bare. 


256  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FALLS.  Chap,  XH. 

posite,  with  its  grove  of  large  evergreen  trees,  and  brilliant 
rainbows  of  three-quarters  of  a  circle,  two,  three,  and  some- 
times even  four  in  number,  resting  on  the  (ace  of  the  vast 
perpendicular  rock,  down  which  tiny  streams  are  always 
running  to  be  swept  again  back  by  the  upward  rushing 
vapour.  But  as,  at  Niagara,  one  has  to  go  over  to  the 
Canadian  shore  to  see  the  chief  wonder — ^the  Great  Horse- 
shoe Fall — ^so  here  we  have  to  cross  over  to  Moselekatse's 
side  to  the  promontory  of  evergreens,  for  the  best  view  of 
the  principal  Falls  of  Mosi-oa-tunya.  Beginning,  therefore^ 
at  the  base  of  this  prolnontory,  and  facing  the  Cataract^  at 
the  west  end  of  the  chasm,  there  is,  firsts  a  Ml  of  thirty- 
six  yards  in  breadth,  and  of  course,  as  they  all  are,  upwards 
of  310  feet  in  depth.  Then  Boaruka,  a  small  island,  inter- 
venes, and  next  comes  a  great  fall,  with  a  breadth  of  573 
yards ;  a  projecting  rock  separates  this  from  a  second  grand 
fall  of  325  yards  broad ;  in  all,  upwards  of  900  yards  of 
perennial  Falls.  Further  east  stands  Grarden  Island ;  then, 
as  the  river  was  at  its  lowest,  came  a  good  deal  of  the  bare 
rock  of  its  bed,  with  a  score  of  narrow  falls,  which,  at  the 
time  of  flood,  constitute  one  enormous  cascade  of  nearly 
another  half-mile.  Near  the  east  end  of  the  chasm  are  two 
larger  falls,  but  they  are  nothing  at  low  water  compared 
to  those  between  the  islands. 

The  whole  body  of  water  rolls  clear  over,  quite  un- 
broken; but,  after  a  descent  of  ten  or  more  feet,  the  entiie 
mass  suddenly  becomes  like  a  huge  sheet  of  driven  snow. 
Pieces  of  water  leap  off  it  in  the  form  of  comets  with  tails 
streaming  behind,  till  the  whole  snowy  sheet  becomes 
myriads  of  rushiug,  leaping,  aqueous  comets.  This  pecu- 
liarity was  not  observed  by  Charles  Livingstone  at  Nia- 
gara, and  here  it  happens,   possibly  from  the  dryness   of 


Chap.  XII.       MOSI-OA-TUNYA  EXCELS  NIAGARA.  257 

the  atmosphere,  or  whatever  the  cause  may  be  which 
makes  every  drop  of  2iambesi  water  appear  to  possess  a 
sort  of  individuality.  It  runs  oflf  the  ends  of  the  paddles, 
and  glides  in  beads  along  the  smooth  surface,  like  drops 
of  quicksilver  on  a  table.  Here  we  see  them  in  a  con- 
glomeration, each  with  a  train  of  pure  white  vapour,  racing 
down  till  lost  in  clouds  of  spray.  A  stone  dropped  in  be- 
came less  and  less  to  the  eye,  and  at  last  disappeared  in 
the  dense  mist  below. 

Charles  Livingstone  had  seen  Niagara,  and  gave  Mosi-oa- 
tunya  the  palm,  though  now  at  the  end  of  a  drought,  and 
the  river  at  its  very  lowest  Many  feel  a  disappointment 
on  first  seeing  the  great  American  Falls,  but  Mosi-oa-tunya  is 
so  strange,  it  must  ever  cause  wonder.  In  the  amount  of 
water,  Niagara  probably  excels,  though  not  during  the 
months  when  the  Zambesi  is  in  flood.  The  vast  body  of 
water,  separating  in  the  comet-like  forms  described,  neces- 
sarily encloses  in  its  descent  a  large  volume  of  aii*,  which, 
forced  into  the  cleft,  to  an  unknown  depth,  rebounds,  and 
rushes  up  loaded  with  vapour  to  form  the  three  or  even 
six  columns,  as  if  of  steam,  visible  at  the  Batoka  vil- 
lage Moachemba,  twenty-one  miles  distant  On  attaining 
a  height  of  200,  or  at  most  300  feet  from  the  level  of  the 
river  above  the  cascade,  this  vapour  becomes  condensed  into 
a  perpetual  shower  of  fine  rain.  Much  of  the  spray,  rising  to 
the  west  of  Garden  Island,  falls  on  the  grove  of  evergreen  trees 
opposite;  and  from  their  leaves,  heavy  drops  are  for  ever 
falling,  to  form  sundry  little  rills,  which,  in  running  down 
the  steep  face  of  rock,  are  blown  oflf  and  turned  back,  or 
licked  oflT  their  perpendicular  bed,  up  into  the  column  from 
which  they  have  just  descended. 

The  morning  sun  gilds  these  columns  of  watery  smoke 

8 


258  SACRED  SPOTS.  Chap.  XII. 

with  all  the  glowing  colours  of  double  or  treble  rainbows. 
The  evening  sun,  from  a  hot  yellow  sky,  imparts  a  sul- 
phureous hue^  and  gives  one  the  impression  that  the  yawn- 
ing gulf  might  resemble  the  mouth  of  the  bottomless  pit.  No 
bird  sits  and  sings  on  the  branches  of  the  grove  of  perpetual 
showers,  or  ever  builds  its  nest  there.  We  saw  hombillSy 
and  flocks  of  little  black  weavers  flying  across  from  the 
mainland,  to  the  islands,  and  from  the  islands  to  the  points 
of  the  promontories  and  back  again,  but  they  uniformly 
shunned  the  region  of  perpetual  rain,  occupied  by  the 
evergreen  grove.  The  sunshine,  elsewhere  in  this  land  so 
overpowering,  never  penetrates  the  deep  gloom  of  that  shade. 
In  the  presence  of  the  strange  Mosi-oa-tunya,  we  can  sym- 
pathize with  those  who,  when  the  world  was  young,  peopled 
earth,  air,  and  river,  with  beings  not  of  mortal  form.  Sacred 
to  what  deity  would  be  this  awful  chasm  and  that  dark 
grove,  over  which  hovers  an  ever-abiding  "  pillar  of  doud  ?  "'' 
The  ancient  Batoka  Chieftains  used  Kazeruka,  now  Garden 
Island,  and  Boaruka,  the  island  further  west,  also  on  the  lip 
of  the  Falls,  as  sacred  spots  for  worshipping  the  Deity.  It 
is  no  wonder  that  under  the  doudy  columns,  and  near  the 
brilliant  rainbows,  with  the  ceaseless  roar  of  the  cataract^  with 
the  perpetual  flow,  as  if  pouring  forth  from  the  hand  of  the 
Almighty,  their  souls  should  be  filled  with  reverential  awe. 
It  inspired  wonder  in  the  native  mind  throughout  the  interior. 
Among  the  first  questions  asked  by  Sebituane  of  Mr.  Oswell 
and  Dr.  Livingstone,  in  1851,  was,  "Have  you  any  smoke 
soundings  in  your  country,"  and  "  what  causes  the  smoke  to 
rise  for  ever  so  high  out  of  water  ?  "  In  that  year  its  feme 
was  heard  200  miles  off,  and  it  was  approached  within  two 
days ;  but  it  was  seen  by  no  European  till  1855,  when  Dr, 
Livingstone  visited  it  on  his  way  to  the  East  Coast    Being 


Chap.  Xil.     DESTRUCTIVENESS  OF  HIPPOPOTAML  259 

then  accompanied  as  fieur  as  this  Fall  by  Sekeleta  and  200 
followers^  his  stay  was  necessarily  short ;  and  the  two  days 
there  were  employed  in  observations  for  fixing  the  geo- 
graphical position  of  the  place,  and  taming  the  showers, 
that  at  times  sweep  from  the  columns  of  vapour  across  the 
island,  to  account,  in  teaching  the  Makololo  arboriculture, 
and  making  that  garden  from  which  the  natives  named 
the  island;  so  that  he  did  not  visit  the  opposite  sides  of 
the  deft,  nor  see  the  wonderful  course  of  the  river  be- 
yond the  Falls.  The  hippopotami  had  destroyed  the  trees 
which  were  then  planted;  and,  though  a  strong  stockaded 
hedge  was  made  again,  and  living  orange-trees,  cashew- 
nuts,  and  coffee  seeds,  put  in  afresh,  we  fear  that  the  per- 
severance of  the  hippopotami  will  overcome  the  obstacle  of 
the  hedge.*  It  would  require  a  resident  missionary  to  rear 
European  fruit-trees.  The  period,  at  which  the  peach  and 
apricot  come  into  blossom,  is  about  the  end  of  the  dry  sea- 
son, and  artificial  irrigation  is  necessary.  The  Batoka,  the 
only  arboriculturists  in  the  country,  rear  native  fruit-trees 
alone — ^the  mosibe,  the  motsikiri,  the  boma,  and  others.  When 
a  tribe  takes  an  interest  in  trees,  it  becomes  more  attached  to 


•  The  "Victoria  Falls  wero  yisitod 
I7  Sir  Richard  Glyn,  Bart,  and  his 
brotiier  when  on  a  hunting  excursion 
in  1863.  The  J  visited  Garden  Is- 
land, and  fonnd  that  onr  fears  of  the 
depredations  of  the  hippopotami  had 
been  only  too  well  jEbonded.  The  fruit 
trees  had  been  destroyed.  SirBiohard 
kindly  deepened  the  initials  "  D.  L^ 
1855,*'  made  on  a  tree  on  the  island 
when  the  discovery  took  place,  and 
the  only  case  in  which  the  letters  had 
been  cnt  by  Dr.  Livingstone  in  the 
comitry.     Traders  and  others  also 


have  visited  the  ooontry  south  of  the 
Falls,  but  we  have  not  seen  any  new 
ground  described  in  that  quarter,  nor 
does  any  one  else  seem  to  have  gone 
over  to  the  eastern  side,  and  again 
seen  the  chasms  there.  The  river 
Lofikwe  or  Quai,  said  to  havo  ca- 
noes upon  it,  and  to  join  the  Zambesi 
between  Mosi-oa-tunya  and  Sina- 
mane's,  might  be  interesting  to  ex- 
plorers; and  Moselekatse^  the  para- 
mount lord  of  the  people  there,  is 
known  to  be  favourable  to  the  Eng- 
lish. 

8  2 


260  DONNA  EUGENIA.  Chap.  XI  I. 

the  spot  on  which  they  are  planted,  and  they  prore  one  of 
the  civilizing  influences. 

Before  leaving  the  most  wonderful  Falls  in  the  world,  one 
may  be  excused  for  referring  to  the  fact  that,  though  they  had 
produced  a  decided  impression  on  the  native  mind  in  the 
interior,  no  intelligence  of  their  existence  ever  reached  the 
Portuguese.  About  1809  two  black  slaves,  named  Pedro 
Baptista  and  Andre  Jos^,  were  sent  from  Cassange,  a  village 
three  hundred  miles  from  the  West  Coast,  through  the  country 
of  Cazembe,  to  Tette,  nearly  an  equal  distance  from  the  East 
Coast.  A  lady  now  living  at  Tette,  Donna  Eugenia,  re- 
members distinctly  these  slaves — their  woolly  hair  dressed 
in  the  Londa  fashion — arriving  and  remaining  at  Tette,  till 
letters  came  from  the  Grovemor-General  of  Mosambique, 
which  they  successfully  carried  back  to  Cassange.  On  this 
slender  fibre  hangs  all  the  Portuguese  pretension  to  having 
possessed  a  road  across  Africa.  Their  maps  show  the 
source  of  the  Zambesi  S.S.W.  of  Zumbo,  about  where  the 
Falls  were  found ;  and  on  this  very  questionable  authority 
an  untravelled  English  map-maker,  with  most  amusmg  as- 
surance, asserts  that  the  river  above  the  Falls  runs  under 
the  Kalahari  Desert  and  is  lost. 

Where  one  Englishman  goes,  others  are  sure  to  follow.  Mr. 
Baldwin,  a  gentleman  from  Natal,  succeeded  in  reaching  the 
Falls  guided  by  his  pocket-compass  alone.  On  meeting 
the  second  subject  of  Her  Majesty,  who  had  ever  beheld  the 
greatest  of  African  wonders,  we  found  him  a  sort  of  prisoner 
at  large.  He  had  called  on  Mashotlane  to  ferry  him  over  to 
the  north  side  of  the  river,  and,  when  nearly  over,  he  took 
a  bath,  by  jumping  in  and  swimming  ashore.  "  If, "  said 
Mashotlane,  "he  had  been  devoured  by  one  of  the  crocodiles 
>ybich  abound  there,  the  English  would  have  blamed  us  for 


Chap.  XII.        GROUND  STREWN  WITH  AGATES.  261 

his  death.  He  nearly  inflicted  a  great  injury  upon  us,  there- 
fore, we  said,  he  must  pay  a  fine."  As  Mr.  Baldwin  had 
nothing  with  him  wherewith  to  pay,  they  were  taking  care 
of  him  till  he  should  receive  beads  from  his  wagon  two  days 
distant. 

Mashotlane's  education  had  been  receiTod  in  the  camp  of 
Sebituane,  where  but  little  regard  was  paid  to  human  life. 
He  was  not  yet  in  his  prime,  and  his  fine  open  countenance 
presented  to  us  no  indication  of  the  evil  influences  which 
unhappily,  from  infancy,  had  been  at  work  on  his  mind. 
The  native  eye  was  more  penetrating  than  ours;  for  the 
expression  of  our  men  was,  *'He  has  drunk  the  blood  of 
men — ^you  may  see  it  in  his  eyes."  He  made  no  further 
difficulty  about  Mr.  Baldwin ;  but,  the  week  after  we  left,  he 
inflicted  a  severe  wound  on  the  head  of  one  of  his  wives  with 
his  rhinoceros-horn  club.  She,  being  of  a  good  family,  left 
him,  and  we  subsequently  met  her  and  another  of  his  wives 
proceeding  up  the  country. 

The  ground  is  strewn  with  agates  for  a  number  of  miles 
above  the  Falls ;  but  the  fires,  which  bum  off  the  grass  yearly, 
have  injiured  most  of  those  on  the  surfece.  Our  men  were 
delighted  to  hear  that  they  do  as  well  as  flints  for  muskets ; 
and  this,  with  the  new  ideas  of  the  value  of  gold  {dalama)  and 
malachite,  that  they  had  acquired  at  Tette,  made  them  con- 
ceive that  we  were  not  altogether  silly  in  picking  up  and 
looking  at  stones. 


262  NAMBOWE  AND  HIS  WIVES.  Chap.  XIII. 


CHAPTER  Xiri. 

Condition  of  Aigitives  and  captives  in  native  tribes — Soiritode  in  the  interior 
light  as  compared  to  slaTery  on  the  coast — MoIele*B  village  —  Scaicitj  of 
food — Tianyane  identical  with  Onxebi — The  Pokn — Dr.  Uvisgrtone  eon- 
snlted  on  the  value  of  horses— Mpariza,  village  of  Mokompa — Stingless 
bee — Take  canoe  for  Sesheke — Sekeletn*s  attempt  at  enforcing  qnaiantine  — 
The  Chiefs'  messengers  —  "The  argument**  &r  learning  to  read — *'Fiee 
pratique  "  —  Native  instmctions  —  The  cattle-post  school  —  Seaheke  old  and 
new  town  —  Sekeletu  —  Nothing  like  beef  —  •*  Beef  with  and  heei  without " 
— YiiitOTS — Sekeleta*s  leproqr  and  its  attendant  evils —  Disease  pronoonoed 
incurable  by  native  doctors — Taken  in  hand  by  a  doctress — Handed  over  to 
Drs.  Livingstone  and  Kirk — Improvement  of  patient — Description  of  disease 
-^Tea  and  preserved  firuits  frtun  Benguela^— No  ivory,  no  slave-bade — 
Effect  of  Sekeletu's  orders  in  closing  slave-market — Fashion — Hone-dealing 
—  Peculiar  style  of  racing  —  ••  The  household  cavalry  ** — Produce  of  interi<H^ 
in  grain  — No  vegetables— No  fruit  —  Mr.  Baldwin*  and  Mr.  Helmore's 
party— Sad  breaking  up  of  the  Mission^- Fever,  not  poiscm,  the  cause  (^ 
deaths. 

Mabghing  up  the  river,  we  crossed  the  Lekone  at  its 
confloencey  about  eight  miles  above  the  island  Ealai,  and 
went  on  to  a  village  opposite  the  Island  Chundu.  Nambowe, 
the  headman^  is  one  of  the  Matebele  or  Zulus,  who 
have  had  to  flee  from  the  anger  of  Moselekatse,  to  take 
refuge  with  the  Makololo.  During  our  interview,  his  six 
handsome  wives  came  and  sat  behind  him.  He  had  only 
two  children.  The  ladies  were  amused  with  our  question 
whether  they  ever  quarrelled,  to  which  the  monster  answered^ 
**  Oh,  yes,  they  are  always  quarrelling  amon'gst  themselves.** 
Among  the  coast  tribes  a  fugitive  is  almost  always  sold,  but 
here  a  man  retains  the  same  rank  he  held  in  his  own  tribe. 
The  children  of  captives  even  have  the  same  privileges  as  the 
children  of  their  captors.     The  Rev.  T.  M.  Thomas,  a  mis- 


Chap.  XIH.      SERVITUDE  COMPARATIVELY  LIGHT.  203 

sionary  now  liring  with  Moselekatsey  finds  the  same  jBystem 
prevailing  among  his  Znlns  or  Matebele.  He  says  that» 
"  the  African  slaye,  brought  by  a  foray  to  the  tribe,  enjoys, 
from  the  beginning,  the  privileges  and  name  of  a  child,, 
and  looks  npon  his  master  and  mistress  in  every  respect  as 
his  new  parents.  He  is  not  only  nearly  his  master's  equal, 
but  he  may,  with  impunity,  leave  his  master  atid  go  wherever 
he  likes  within  the  boundary  of  the  kingdom :  although 
a  bondman  or  servant,  his  position,  especially  in  Mosele- 
katse's  country,  does  not  convey  the  true  idea  of  a  state 
of  slavery ;  for,  by  care  and  dilif^ence,  he  may  soon  become  a 
n^  ^nselt  and  even  moZch  and  powerful  than  he  who 
led  him  captive." 

The  practice  pursued  by  these  people,  on  returning  from  a 
foray,  of  selling  the  captives  to  each  other  for  com  or  cattle, 
might  lead  one  to  imagine  that  slavery  existed  in  all 
its  intensity  among  the  native  Africans;  but  Mr.  Thomas, 
observing,  as  we  have  often  dome,  the  actual  working  of  the 
system,  says  very  truly,  "  Neither  the  punctuality,  quickness, 
thoroughness,  nor  amount  of  exertion  is  required  by  the 
African  as  by  the  European  master.  In  Europe  the  difficulty 
is  want  of  time ;  in  Africa,  what  is  to  be  done  with  it" 
Apart  from  the  shocking  waste  of  life,  which  takes  place  in 
these  and  all  slave  forays,  their  slavery  is  not  so  repulsive 
as  it  always  becomes  in  European  hands.  It  is  perhaps  a 
6dKng  in  a  traveller  to  be  affected  with  a  species  of  home- 
sickness, so  that  the  mind  always  turns  from  the  conditions 
and  circumstanceB  of  the  poor  abroad  to  the  state  of  the 
lonely  in  our  native  land ;  but  so  it  is.  When  we  see  with 
how  much  ease  the  very  lowest  class  here  can  subsist,  we 
cannot  help  remembering,  with  sorrow,  with  what  difficulty 
our  o>TO  poor  can  manage  to  live— with  what  timid  eagerness 


264 


MOLELE'S  VILLAGE. 


Chap.  XI I  L 


employment  is  sought — how  hard  the  battle  of  life ;  while  so 
much  of  this  fair  earth  remains  imoccupied,  and  not  put  to  the 
benevolent  purpose  for  which  it  was  intended  by  its  Maker. 

We  spent  Sunday,  the  12th,  at  the  Tillage  of  Molele,  a 
tall  old  Batoka,  who  was  proud  of  having  formerly  been  a 
great  favourite  with  Sebituane.  In  coming  hither  we  passed 
through  patches  of  forest  abounding  in  all  sorts  of  game. 
The  elephants'  tusks,  placed  over  graves,  are  now  allowed 
to  decay,  and  the  skulls,  which  the  former  Batoka  stuck 
on  poles  to  ornament  their  villages,  not  being  renewed, 
now  crumble  into  dust  Here  the  famine,  of  which  we  had 
heard,  became  apparent,  Molele's  people  being  employed 
in  digging  up  the  tsitla  root  out  of  the  marshes,  and  cutting 
out  the  soft  core  of  the  young  palm-trees,  for  food. 

The  village,  situated  on  the  side  of  a  wooded  ridge,  com- 
mands an  extensive  view  of  a  great  expanse  of  meadow  and 
marsh  lying  along  the  bank  of  the  river.  On  these  holmes 
herds  of  buffaloes  and  waterbucks  daily  graze  in  security,  as 
they  have  in  the  i-eedy  marshes  a  refuge  into  which  they 
can  run  on  the  approach  of  danger.  The  pretty  little 
tianyane   or   ourebi   is   abundant  further   on,*  and    herds 


♦  From  being  entirely  unknown  in 
the  Bechnana  country  south  of  this, 
it  was  thought  to  be  a  new  antelope, 
and  is  so  mentioned  by  Dr.  Living- 
stone; but  the  description  of  the 
appearance,  gait,  alarm-call,  and  habits 
(given  by  another  African  traveller, 
Mr.  W.  F.  Webb)  of  the  ourebi,  as 
found  in  Natalf  leaves  no  doubt  but* 
that  the  two  animals  are  identical. 
Having  made  this  mistake  himself. 
Dr.  Livingstone  is  quite  disposed  to 
be  lenient  to  others;  but  would  re- 
spectfully suggest  a  doubt,  whether 
it  be  advisable  to   multiply  names 


when  there  is  no  more  variation  than 
a  bend  in  the  shape  of  the  horns,  or 
a  slight  difference  in  the  colour  of 
the  hair.  An  eland  for  instance, 
described,  from  specimens  sliot  on 
these  very  plains  in  1853,  as  retain- 
ing in  maturity  the  stripes  which 
appear  on  the  young  of  aU  elands  in 
the  Kalahari  Desert,  ten  years  later 
has  been  rediscovered  as  <^'t]Sr(/tfnlra, 
named  from  specimens  seen  in  West 
Africa.  This  has  been  the  case  also 
with  the  nakong  or  nzoe,  and  the 
reason  assigned  in  this  case  was  its 
being   "faintly   spotted.**    A  ymmg 


Chap.  XUI. 


THE  POKU. 


265 


of  blue  Tveldebeests  or  brindled  gnus  (Katoblepas  Oorgon) 
amused  us  by  their  fantastic  capers.  They  present  a 
much  more  ferocious  aspect  than  the  lion  himself,  but 
are  quite  timid.  We  never  could  by  waving  a  red  hand- 
kerchief, according  to  the  prescription,  induce  them  to 
venture  near  to  u&  It  may  therefore  be,  that  the  red 
colour  excites  their  fory  only  when  wounded  or  hotly  pur- 
sued. Herds  of  lechee  or  lechwe  now  enliven  the  mea- 
dows ;  and  they  and  their  younger  brother,  the  graceful  poku, 
smaller,  and  of  a  rounder  contour,  race  together  towards  the 
grassy  fens.  We  ventured  to  call  the  poku  after  the  late 
Major  Vardon,  a  noble-hearted  African  traveller;  but  fully 
anticipate  that  some  aspiring  Nimrod  will  prefer  that  his  own 
name  should  go  down  to  posterity  on  the  back  of  this  buck. 

Midway  between  Tabacheu  and  the  Great  Falls  the  streams 
begin  to  flow  westward.  On  the  other  side  they  flow  east 
Large  round  masses  of  granite,  somewhat  like  old  castles, 
tower  aloft  about  the  Kalomo.  The  country  is  an  elevated 
plateau,  and  our  men  knew  and  named  the  difibrent  plains 
as  we  passed  them  by. 

On  the  13ih  we  met  a  pctrty  from  Sekeletu,  who  was  now  at 
Sesheke.  Our  approach  had  been  reported,  and  they  had 
been  sent  to  ask  the  Doctor  what  the  price  of  a  horse  ought 
to  be ;  and  what  he  said,  that  they  were  to  give  and  no  more. 
In  reply  they  were  told  that  by  their  having  given  nine  large 
tusks  for  one  horse  before  the  Doctor  came,  the  Griquas 
would  naturally  imagine  that  the  price  was  already  settled. 
It  was  exceedingly  amusing  to  witness  the  exact  imitation 
they  gave  of  the  swagger  of  a  certain  white  with  whom  they 


waterbock's  head  has  also  been 
brought  from  West  Africa  and  figured 
as  a  new  species;  and  the  common 


bushbuok  was  caUed  A,  Boualeyni, 
though  wcU  known  and  described 
before  any  of  us  were  bom. 


L 


266  STINGLESS  BEE.  Chap.  XUI. 

had  been  dealing,  and  who  had^  as  they  had  perceived, 
evidentiiy  wished  to  assume  an  air  of  indifference.  Holdmg 
up  the  head  and  scratching  the  beard  it  was  hinted  might 
indicate  not  indifference,  but  vermin.  It  is  well  that  we  do 
not  always  know  what  they  say  about  us.  The  remarks  are 
often  not  quite  complimentary,  and  resemble  closely  what 
certain  white  travellers  say  about  the  blacks. 

We  made  our  camp  in  the  afternoon  abreast  of  the-laige 
island  called  Mparira,  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Chdbe. 
Francolins,  quails,  and  guinearfowls,  as  well  as  larger  game, 
were  abundant  The  Makololo  headman,  Mokompa,  brou^t 
us  a  liberal  present;  and,  in  the  usual  way,  which  is  con- 
sidered politeness,  regretted  he  had  no  milk,  as  his  oows 
were  aU  dry.  We  got  some  honey  here  from  the  very  small 
stingless  bee,  called,  by  the  Batoka,  moandi,  and  by  others, 
the  kokomatsane.  This  honey  is  slightly  acid,  and  has  an 
aromatic  flavour.  The  bees  are  easily  known  from  their  habit 
of  buzzing  about  the  eyes,  and  tickling  the  skin  by  sucking 
it  as  common  flies  do.  The  hive  has  a  tube  <^  wax  like  a 
quill,  for  its  entrance,  and  is  usually  in  the.  hollows  of  trees. 

Mokompa  feared  that  the  tribe  was  breaking  up,  and 
lamented  the  condition  into  which  they  had  fallen  in  con- 
sequence of  Sekeletu's  leprosy;  he  did  not  know  what 
was  to  become  of  them.  He  sent  two  canoes  to  take  us  up 
to  Sesheke  ;  his  best  canoe  had  taken  ivory  up  to  tiie  Chief, 
to  purchase  goods  of  some  native  traders  from  Benguela. 
Above  the  Falls  the  paddlers  always  stand  in  the  canoes, 
using  long  p^dles,  ten  feet  in  length,  and  changing  firom 
side  to  side  without  losing  the  stroke. 

Mochokotsa,  a  messenger  from  Sekeletu,  met  us  on  the  17th, 
with  another  request  for  the  Doctor  to  take  ivory  and  purchase 
a  horse.  He  again  declined  to  interfere.  None  were  to  come 
up  to  Sekeletu  but  the  Doctor ;   and  all  the  men  who  had  had 


Chap.  XUI.  SEKELETITS  MESSENGER.  267 

fimallpox  at  Tette,  three  years  ago,  were  to  go  back  to 
Moshobotwane,  and  he  would  qprmkle  medicine  over  them, 
to  drive  away  the  infection,  and  prevent  it  spreading  in 
the  tribe.  Mochokotsa  was  told  to  say  to  Sekeletu  that  the 
disease  was  known  of  old  to  white  men,  and  we  even  knew 
the  medicine  to  prevent  it ;  and,  were  there  any  danger  now, 
we  should  be  the  first  to  warn  him  of  it.  Why  did  not  he  go 
himself  to  have  Moshobotane  sprinkle  medicine  to  drive  away 
his  leprosy.  We  were  not  afiraid  of  his  disease,  nor  of  the 
fever  that  had  killed  the  teachers  and  many  Makoldo  at 
IdnyantL  As  this  attempt  at  quarantine  was  evidently 
the  suggestion  of  native  dL»  I  increase  their  own  im- 
partance,  we  added  that  we  had  no  food,  and  would  hunt 
next  day  for  game,  and  the  day  after ;  and,  should  we  be 
still  (^ered  purification  by  their  medicine,  we  should  then 
return  to  our  own  country. 

The  message  was  not  all  of  our  dictation,  our  companions 
interlarded  it  with  their  own  indignant  protests,  and  said  some 
strong  things  in  the  Tette  dialect  about  these  ^*  doctor  things  ** 
keeping  them  back  from  seeing  their  father ;  when  to  their 
surpise  Mochokotsa  told  them  he  knew  every  word  they 
were  saying,  as  he  was  of  the  tribe  Bazizulu,  and  defied 
them  to  deceive  him  by  any  dialect,  either  of  the  Mashona 
on  the  east,  or  of  the  Mambari  on  the  west.  Mochokotsa 
then  repeated  our  message  twice,  to  be  sure  that  he  had  it 
every  word,  tod  went  back  again.  These  Chiefs!  messen- 
gers have  most  retentive  memories ;  they  carry  messages  of 
e(msiderable  lengfii  great  distances,  and  deliver  them  almost 
word  for  word.  Two  or  three  usually  go  together,  and  when 
on  the  way  the  message  is  rehearsed  every  night,  in  order 
that  the  exact  words  may  be  kept  to.  One  of  the  native 
objections  to  learning  to  write  is,  that  these  men  answer  the 
purpose  of  transmitting  intelligence  to  a  distance  as  well 


268  REASON  FOR  LEARNING  TO  READ.       Chap.  XHL 

as  a  letter  v^ould;  and,  if  a  person  wishes  to  commnnieate 
mth  any  one  in  the  town,  the  best  way  to  do  so  is  either  to 
go  to  or  send  for  him.  And  as  for  corresponding  with  friends 
very  fer  off,  that  is  all  very  well  for  white  people,  but  the 
blacks  have  no  friends  to  whom  to  write.  The  only  effective 
argument  for  their  learning  to  read  is,  that  it  is  their  duty 
to  know  the  revelation  from  their  Father  in  Heaven,  as  it 
stands  in  the  Book. 

Our  messenger  returned  on  the  evening  of  the  following 
day  with  **  You  speak  truly,"  says  Sekeletu,  "  the  disease  is 
old,  come  on  at  once,  do  not  sleep  in  the  path ;  for  I  am 
greatly  desirous  (tloloffelecoe)  to  see  the  Doctor." 

After  Mochokotsa  left  us,  we  met  some  of  Mokompa's  men 
bringing  back  the  ivory,  as  horses  were  preferred  to  the  West- 
Coast  goods.     They  were  the  bearers  of  instructions  to  Mo- 
kompa,  and  as  these  instructions  illustrate  the  government 
of  people  who  have  learned  scarcely  anything  from  Euro- 
peans, they  are  inserted,  though  otherwise  of  no  importance. 
Mashotlane  had  not  behaved  so  civilly  to  Mr.  Baldwin,  as 
Sekeletu  had  ordered  him  to  do  to  all  Englishmen.      He 
liad  been  very  uncivil  to  the  messengers  sent  by  Mosele- 
katse  with  letters  from  Mr.  Moffat^  treated  them  as  spies, 
and  would  not  land  to  take  the  bag  until  they  moved  offl 
On  our  speaking  to  him  about  this,  he  justified  his  conduct 
on  the  plea  that  he  was  set  at  the  Falls  for  the  very  pur- 
pose of  watching  these,  their  natural  enemies ;  and  how  was 
he  to  know  that  they  had  been  sent  by  Mr.  Moffat  ?    Our 
men  thereupon  reported  at  head-quarters  that  Mashotlane 
had   cursed  the  Doctor.     The    instructions   to   Mokompa, 
from  Sekeletu,  were  to   **go  and  tell  Mashotlane  that  he 
had  offended   greatly.     He  had  not   cursed  Monare  (Dr. 
Livingstone)  but    Sebituane,   as   Monare   was  now  in  the 
place  of  Sebituane,  and  he  reverenced  him  as  he  had  done 


Chap.  XIH.  THE  CATTLE-POST  SCHOOL.  2G9 

his  father.  Any  fine  taken  from  Mr.  Baldwin  was  to  be 
returned  at  once,  as  he  was  not  a  Boer  but  an  Englishman. 
Sekeletu  was  very  angry,  and  Mokompa  must  not  conceal  the 
message." 

On  finding  afterwards  that  Mashotlane's  conduct  had  been 
most  outrageous  to  the  Batoka,  Sekeletu  sent  for  him  to  come 
to  Sesheke,  in  order  that  he  might  have  him  more  under  his 
own  eye ;  but  Mashotlane,  fearing  that  this  meant  the  punish- 
ment of  death,  sent  a  polite  answer,  alleging  that  he  was  ill 
and  unable  to  traveL  Sekeletu  tried  again  to  remove  Mashot- 
lane from  the  Falls,  but  without  success.  In  theory  the  Chief 
is  absolute  and  quite  despotic;  in  practice  his  authority  is 
limited,  and  he  cannot,  without  occasionally  putting  refrac- 
tory headmen  to  death,  force  his  subordinates  to  do  his  will. 

Except  the  small  rapids  by  Mparira  island,  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Chobe,  the  rest  of  the  way  to  Sesheke  by  water,  is 
smooth.  Herds  of  cattle  of  two  or  three  varieties  graze  on 
the  islands  in  the  river :  the  Batoka  possessed  a  very  small 
breed  of  beautiful  shape,  and  remarkably  tame,  and  many 
may  still  be  seen ;  a  larger  kind,  many  of  which  have  horns 
pendent,  and  loose  at  the  roots ;  and  a  still  larger  sort,  with 
horns  of  extraordinary  dimensions,  appcirently  a  burden  for 
the  beast  to  carry.  This  breed  was  found  in  abundance 
at  Lake  Ngami.  We  stopped  at  noon  at  one  of  the 
cattle  posts  of  Mokompa,  and  had  a  refreshing  drink  of 
milk.  Men  of  his  standing  have  usually  several  herds 
placed  at  different  spots,  and  the  owner  visits  each  in 
turn,  while  his  head-quarters  are  at  his  village.  His  son, 
a  boy  of  ten,  had  charge  of  the  establishment  during 
his  father's  absence.  According  to  Makololo  ideas,  the 
cattle-post  is  the  proper  school  in  which  sons  should  be 
brought  up.  •  Here  they  receive  the  right  sort  of  education — 
the  knowledge  of  pasture  and  how  to  manage  cattle. 


270  STRONG  EASTERLY  WINDS.  Chap.  Xm. 

Strong  easterly  winds  blow  daily  from  noon  till  midnight, 
and  continue  till  the  October  or  November  rains  set  in. 
Whirlwinds,  raising  huge  pillars  of  smoke  from  burning 
grass  and  weeds,  are  common  in  the  forenoon.     We  were 
nearly  caught  in  an  immense  one.     It  crossed  about  twenty 
yards  in  front  of  us,  the  wind  apparently  rushing  into  it 
from  all  points  of  the  compass.     Whirling  round  and  round 
in  great  eddies,  it  swept  up  hundreds  of  feet  into  the  air  a 
continuous  dense  dark  cloud  of  the  black  pulyerized  soil, 
mixed  with  dried  grass,  off  the  plain.     Herds  of  the  new 
antelopes,  lechw^,  and  poku,  with  the  kokong,  or  gnus,  and 
zebras  stood  gazing  at  us  as  we  passed.     The  mirage  lifted 
them  at  times  halfway  to  the  clouds,  and  twisted  them  and 
the  clumps  of  palms  into  strange  unearthly  forms.      The 
extensiye  and  rich  level  plains  by  the  banks,  along  the  sides 
of  which  we  paddled,  would  support  a  vast  population,  and 
might  be  easily  irrigated  from  the  ZambesL    If  watered,  they 
would  yield  crops  all  the  year  round,    and  never   suffer 
loss  by  drought     The  hippopotamus  is  kiQed  here  with  long 
lance-like  spears.     We  saw  two   men,  in  a  light  canoe, 
stealing  noiselessly  down  on  one  of  these  animals  thought  to 
be  asleep ;  but  it  was  on  the  alert,  and  they  had  quickly  to 
retreat.    Comparatively  few  of  these  animals  now  remain 
between  Sesheke  and  the  Falls,  and  they  are  uncommonly 
wary,  as  it  is  certain  death  for  one  to  be  caught  napping 
in  the  daytime. 

On  the  18th  we  entered  Sesheke.  The  old  town,  now  in 
ruins,  stands  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river.  The  people  have 
built  another  on  the  same  side,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  higher 
up,  since  their  headman  Moriantsiane  was  put  to  death 
for  bewitching  the  Chief  with  leprosy.  Sekeletu  was  an 
the  right  bank,  near  a  number  of  temporary  huts.  A  man 
hailed  us  from  the  Chiefs  quarters,  and  requested  us  to 


Chap.  XHI.  NOTHmO  LIKE  BEEF.  271 

rest  under  the  old  Ebtla^  or  public  meeting-place  tree.    A 
young  Makololo,  with  the  large  thighs  which  Zulus  and 
most  of  this  tribe  haye,  crossed  oyer  to  receive  orders  from 
the  Chief,  who  had  not  shown  himself  to  the  people  since  he 
was  affected  with  leprosy.     On  returning  he  ran  for  Mokele, 
the  headman  of  the  new  town,  who,  after  going  over  to  Seke- 
leta,  came  back  and  conducted  us  to  a  small  but  good  hut, 
and  afterwards  brought  us  a  fine  fat  ox,  as  a  present  firom 
the  Chief.     "  This  is  a  time  of  hunger,"  he  said,  "  and  we 
have  no  meat,  but  we  expect  some  soon  from  the  Barotse 
Valley.**    We  were  entirely  out  of  food  when  we  reached 
Sesheke.    Never  was  better  meat  than  that  of  the  ox  Seke- 
leta  sent,  and  infinitely  above  the  flesh  of  all  kinds  of  game 
id  classic  beef!    We  have  partaken  of  the  flesh  of  all  the 
eatable  animals  in  Africa,  except  the  crocodile,  and  often 
under  circumstances  when  a  keen  appetite  mi^t  be  sup- 
posed to  give  a  bias  to  the  judgment  in  favour  of  the 
game;   yet  all  that  could  be  said  of  the  best  was,  it  is 
ne^y  as  good  as  the  flesh  of  oxen.     Possibly  some  ani- 
mals, still  untamed,  might  be  found  to  turn  to  good  account 
land  covered  with  pasture  such  as  heather  or  brackens,  other- 
wise useless  for  cattle ;  but  we  say,  Let  the  ^'  Acclimatization 
Society"  increase  and  multiply  the  number  of  beeves,  and 
it  will  please  the  taste,  and  benefit  humanity,  more  than  it 
possibly  could  by  the  introduction  of  every  wild  animal  from 
the  elephant  down  to  the  crocodile.    It  must  be  confessed, 
however,  that  to  the  uninitiated  it  is  rather  awkward  to  sit 
down  to  a  meal  of  nothing  but  beef,  however  excellent    On 
taking  a  mouthful,  hands  and  eyes  turn  instinctively  in  search 
of  something  in  the  form  of  bread,  potatoes,  or  vegetables  to 
accompany  it,  and  there   is   an  unpleasant   sensation   of 
wanting  what  the  Scotch  know  by  the  word  *  kitchen '  {oyjrov). 
We  made  the  fat  kitchen  the  lean.    The  Makololo  usually 


272  SEKELETU'S  LEPROSY.  Chap.  XHI. 

devour  all  the  fat  first,  that  being  considered  the  best,  and 
afterwards  eat  the  lean,  and,  last  of  all,  the  porridge  or 
bread,  if  they  hare  any.  The  people  who,  like  them,  live 
much  on  milk  and  meat,  can  bear  fatigue  and  privation 
much  better  than  those  whose  sustenance  is  chiefly  grain  and 
pulse.  When  the  Makololo  go  on  a  foray,  as  they  sometimes 
do,  a  month  distant,  many  of  the  subject  tribes  who  accom- 
pany them,  being  grain  eaters,  perish  from  sheer  fatigue, 
while  the  beef  eaters  scorn  the  idea  of  even  being  tired. 

A  constant  stream  of  visitors  rolled  in  on  us  the  day  after 
our  arrivaL     Several  of  them,  who  had  suffered  affliction 
during  the  Doctor's  absence,  seemed  to  be  mucb  affected 
on  seeing  him  again.     All  were  in  low  spirits.     A  severe 
drought  had  cut  off  the  crops,  and  destroyed  the  pasture  of 
Linyanti,  and  the  people  were  scattered  over  the  country 
in  search  of  wild  fruits,  and  the  hospitality  of  those  whose 
ground-nuts  (Araehis  hypogcea)  had  not  failed.     Sekeletu's 
leprosy  brought  troops  of  evils  in  its  train.    Believing  him- 
self bewitched,  he  had  suspected  a  number  of  his  chief  men, 
and  had  put  somcr,  with  their  families,  to  death ;   others 
had  fled  to  distant  tribes,  and  were  living  in  exile.     The 
Chief  had  shut  himself  up,  and  allowed  no  one  to  come 
into  his  presence  but  his  uncle  Mamire.     Ponwane,  who 
Jiad  been  as  "  head  and  eyes "  to  him,  had  just  died ;  evi- 
dence, he  thought,  of  the  potent  spells  of  those  who  hated 
all  who  loved  the  Chief.    The  coxmtry  was  suffering  griev- 
ously, and  Sebituane's  grand  empire  was  crumbling  to  pieces. 
A  large  body  of  young  Barotse  had  revolted  and  fled  to  the 
north ;  killing  a  man  by  the  way,  in  order  to  put  a  blood- 
feud  between  Masiko,  the  Chief  to  whom  they  were  going, 
and  Sekeletu.    The  Batoka  under  Sinamane,  and  Muemba, 
were  independent,  and  Mashotlane  at  the  Falls  was  setting 
Sekeletu's  authority  virtually  at  defiance.    Sebituane's  wise 


Chap.  XIII. 


SEKELETU'S  LEPROSY. 


273 


policy  in  treating  the  conquered  tribes  on  equal  terms  with 
his  own  Makololo,  as  all  children  of  the  Chief,  and  equally  . 
eligible  to  the  highest  honours,  had  been  abandoned  by  his 
son,  who  married  none  but  Makololo  women,  and  appointed 
to  office  none  but  Makololo  men.  He  had  become  unpopular 
among  the  black  tribes,  conquered  by  the  spear  but  more 
effectually  won  by  the  subsequent  wise  and  just  government 
of  his  &ther. 

Strange  rumours  were  afloat  respecting  the  unseen  Se- 
keletu;  his  fingers  were  said  to  have  grown  like  eaglets 
claws,  and  his  &ce  so  frightfully  distorted  that  no  one 
could  recognise  him.  Some  had  begun  to  hint  that  he 
might  not  really  be  the  son  of  the  great  Sebituane,  the 
foimder  of  the  nation,  strong  in  battle,  and  wise  in  the  affairs 
of  state.  "  In  the  days  of  the  Great  Lion*'  (Sebituane),  said 
his  only  sister,  Moriantsiane's  widow,  whose  husband  Seke- 
letu  had  killed, ''  we  had  Chiefs  and  little  Chiefs  and  elders 
to  carry  on  the  government,  and  the  great  Chief,  Sebituane, 
knew  them  all,  and  everything  they  did,  and  the  whole 
country  was  wisely  ruled ;  but  now  Sekeletu  knows  nothing 
of  what  his  underlings  do,  and  they  care  not  for  him,  and 
the  Makololo  power  is  fast  passing  away."* 

The  native  doctors  had  given  the  case  of  Sekeletu  up. 


*  In  1865,  four  years  after  these 
forebodings  were  penned,  we  received 
inteUigenoe  that  they  had  aU  oome  to 
pass.  Sekeleta  died  in  the  beginning 
of  J  864 — a  civil  war  broke  ont  about 
the  successioa  to  the  chieftainship  ;  a 
large  body  of  those  opposed  to  the 
late  Chief's  nnole,  Impololo,  being  re- 
gent, departed  with  their  cattle  to 
liake  Ngami ;  an  insnrrection  by  the 
black  tribes  followed;  Impololo  was 


slain,  and  the  kingdom,  of  which, 
under  an  able  sagacious  mission,  a 
vast  deal  might  have  been  made,  has 
suffered  the  usual  fate  of  African  con- 
quests. That  &te  we  deeply  deplore ; 
for,  whatever  other  faults  the  Makololo 
might  justly  be  charged  with,  they  did 
not  belong  to  the  class  who  buy  and 
sell  each  other,  and  the  tribes  who 
have  succeeded  them  do. 


274  NATIVE  DOCTORS.  Chap.  XUI. 

They  could  not  cure   him,  and   pronounced   the    disease 
incurable.    An  old  doctress  from  the  Manyeti  tribe   bad 
come  to  see  what  she  could  do  for  him,  and  on  her  skill 
he  now  hung  his  last  hopes.     She  allowed  no  one  to  see 
him,  except  his  mother  and  uncle,  making  entire  seclusion 
from  society  an  essential  condition  of  the  much  longed-for 
cure.     He  sent,  notwithstanding,  for  the  Doctor;  and  on 
the  following  day  we  all  three  were  permitted  to  see  him. 
He  was  sitting  in  a  covered  wagon,  which  was  enclosed  by 
a  high  wall  of  closenset  reeds;  his  fSace  was  only  slightly 
disfigured  by  the  thickening  of  the  skin  in  parts,  where 
the  leprosy  had  passed  over  it;  and  the  only  peculiarity 
about  his  hands  was  the  extreme   length  of  his  finger- 
nails, which,  however,  was  nothing  very  much  out  of  the  way, 
as  all  the  Makololo  gentlemen  wear  them  uncommonly  long. 
He  has  the  quiet,  unassuming  manners  of  his  father,  Sebi- 
tuane,  speaks  distinctly,  in  a  low  pleasant  voice,  and  appears 
to  be  a  sensible  man,  except  perhaps  on  the  subject  of  his 
having  been  bewitched;  and  in  this,  when  alluded  to,  he 
exhibits   as  firm  a  belief  as  if  it  were   his   monomania. 
*^  Moriantsiane,  my  aunt's  husband,  tried  the  bewitching 
medicine  first  on  his  wife,  and  she  is  leprous,  and  so  is  her 
head-servant ;  then,  seeing  that  it  succeeded,  he  gave  me  a 
stronger  dose  in  the  cooked  flesh  of  a  goat,  and  I  have  had 
the  disease  ever  since.    They  have  lately  killed  Ponwane^ 
and,  as  you  see,  are  now  killing  me.**    Ponwane  had  died  of 
fever  a  short  time  previously.    Sekeletu  asked  us  for  medi- 
cine and  medical  attendance,  but  we  did  not  like  to  take 
the  case  out  of  the  hands  of  the  female  physician  already 
employed,  it  being  bad  policy  to  appear  to  undervalue  any 
of  the  profession ;  and  she,  being  anxious  to  go  on  with  ha* 
remedies,  said  "She  had  not  given  him  up  yet,  but  would 


Chap.  XIU.  SEKELETU'S  LEPROSY.  275 

try  for  another  month ;  if  he  was  not  cnred  by  that  timei 
then  she  would  hand  him  oyer  to  the  white  doctors."  But 
we  intended  to  leave  the  country  before  a  month  was  up; 
so  Manure^  with  others^  induced  the  old  lady  to  suspend 
her  treatment  for  a  little.  She  remained,  as  the  doctors 
stipulated^  in  the  Chiefs  establishment,  and  on  full  pay. 

Sekeletu  was  told  plainly  that  the  disease  was  unknown 
in  our  country,  and  was  thought  exceedingly  obstinate  of 
cure;  that  we  did  not  believe  in  his  beiag  bewitched,  and 
we  were  wiUing  to  do  all  we  could  to  help  him.  This  was 
a  case  for  disinterested  benevolence;  no  pay  w$s  expected, 
but  considerable  risk  incurred ;  yet  we  could  not  decline  it, 
as  we  had  the  trading  in  horses.  Having,  however,  none 
of  the  medicines  usually  employed  in  skin -diseases  with 
us,  we  tried  the  local  application  of  lanar  caustic,  and 
hydriodate  of  potash  internally;  and  with  such  gratifying 
results,  that  Mamire  wished  the  patient  to  be  smeared  all 
over  with  a  solution  of  lunar  caustic,  which  he  believed  to 
be  of  the  same  nature  as  the  blistering  fluid  formerly  ap* 
plied  to  his  own  knee  by  Mr.  Oswell.  Its  power  he  con- 
sidered irresistible,  and  he  would  fain  have  had  anything  like 
it  tried  on  Sekeletu. 

The  disease  begins  with  slight  discoloration  of  the  sur- 
face, and  at  first  affects  only  the  cuticle,  the  patches  spread- 
ing in  the  manner,  and  with  somewhat  of  the  appearance, 
of  lichens,  as  if  it  were  a  fungus;  small  vesicles  rise  at 
the  outer  edges  of  the  patches,  and  a  discharge  from  the 
vesicles  forms  scabs*  The  true  skin  next  thickens  and 
rises  in  nodules,  on  the  forehead,  nose,  and  ears ;  and,  when 
the  disease  is  far  advanced,  foul  fissures  appear  on  the  toes 
and  fingers;  these  eventually  drop  off,  and  sometimes  the  de- 
formed patient  recovers.    The  natives  believe  it  to  be  here- 

t2 


276  TEA  AND  PRESERVED  FRUITS.  Chap.  Xlll. 

ditary,  and  non-contagious;  but,  while  working  with  this 
case,  something  very  like  it  was  transplanted  to  the  hands 
of  Drs.  Kirk  and  Livingstone,  and  was  cured  only  by  the 
liberal  use  of  the  caustic.  The  Chiefs  health  and  spirits 
became  better,  as  the  skin  became  thinner,  and  the  de- 
formity of  face  disappeared.  The  aged  doctress,  naturally 
wishing  to  obtain  some  credit  for  the  improvement^  b^n 
secretly  to  superadd  her  remedies,  which  consisted  of  scrap- 
ing the  diseased  skin,  and  rubbing  it  with  an  astringent 
bark  in  powder.  She  desisted  on  receiving  a  hint  from  Ma- 
mire,  that  perhaps  the  medicine  of  the  white  doctors  and  the 
medicine  of  the  black  doctors  might  not  work  well  together. 

It  was  a  time  of  great  scarcity  and  hunger,  but  Sekeleta 
treated  us  hospitably,  preparing  tea  for  us  at  every  visit  we 
paid  him.  With  the  tea  we  had  excellent  American  biscuit 
and  preserved  fruits,  which  had  been  brought  to  him  all  the 
way  from  Benguela.  The  fruits  he  most  reb'shed  were  those 
preserved  in  their  own  juices;  plums,  apples,  pears,  straw- 
berries, and  peaches,  which  we  have  seen  only  among  Portu- 
guese and  Spaniards.  It  made  us  anxious  to  plant  the  fruit- 
tree  seeds  we  had  brought,  and  all  were  pleased  with  the  idea 
of  having  these  same  fruits  in  their  own  country. 

Mokele,  the  headman  of  Sesheke,  and  Sebituane's  sister, 
Manchunyane,  were  ordered  to  provide  us  with  food,  as  Se- 
keletu's  wives,  to  whom  this  duty  properly  belonged,  were 
at  Linyanti.  We  found  a  black  trader  from  the  West  Coast, 
and  some  Griqua  traders  from  the  South,  both  in  search  of 
ivory.  Ivory  is  dear  at  Sesheke ;  but  cheaper  in  the  Batoka 
country,  from  Sinamane's  to  the  Kafue,  than  anywhere  else. 
The  trader  from  Benguela  took  orders  for  goods  for  his  next 
year's  trip,  and  oflfered  to  bring  tea,  coffee,  and  sugar  at  cent, 
per  cent,  prices.     As,  in  consequence  of  a  hint  formerly 


Chap.  XIII.  BELIEF  IN  WITCHCRAFT.  277 

given,  the  Makololo  had  secured  all  the  ivory  in  the  Batoka 
country  to  the  east,  by  purchasing  it  with  hoes,  the  Ben- 
guela  traders  found  it  unprofitable  to  go  thither  for  slaves. 
They  assured  us  that  without  ivory  the  trade  in  slaves  did 
not  pay.  In  this  way,  and  by  the  orders  of  Sekeletu,  an 
extensive  slave-mart  was  closed.  These  orders  were  never 
infringed  except  secretly.  We  discovered  only  two  or  three 
cases  of  their  infraction. 

Fashion  is  as  despotic  in  Sesheke  and  Linyanti  as  in 
London  and  Paris.  The  ladies  will  not  wear  beads  which 
are  out  of  fashion,  however  pretty  they  may  be.  The  Chief 
is  a  great  horse-fancier,  and  has  invested  pretty  largely  in 
horse-flesh;  but  he  has  been  very  unlucky,  nearly  all  his 
horses  having  died  soon  after  being  purchased.  A  party 
was  sent  last  year  to  Benguela  with  ivory  to  purchase  five 
horses,  said  to  have  been  imported  from  Lisbon;  all  the 
animals  died  on  the  road,  and  the  grieved  drivers  brought 
the  five  melancholy  tails,  and  laid  them  before  the  Chief. 
"  A  native  Portuguese  at  Bih6,  one  of  the  sleeping-stations, 
bewitched  them ;  they  saw  him  look  at  the  horses  and  touch 
them,  and  were  sure  that  he  bewitched  them  then,  for  they 
died  soon  after!"  The  universal  belief  in  witchcraft,  of 
which  we  ourselves  have  but  recently  got  rid,  is  a  great 
barrier  to  the  progress  of  civilization.  Two  horses  left  by 
the  Doctor  in  1853  had  lived,  in  spite  of  hard  usage  and 
perpetual  hunting;  this  was,  in  the  native  opinion,  because 
he  loved  the  Makololo;  while  others,  from  whom  they  piu:- 
chased  horses,  hated  them  and  bewitched  their  horses.  The 
treatment  the  poor  beasts  received  could  scarcely  fail  to 
prove  fatal.  A  jolly  set  of  young  men,  the  Chiefs  bodyguard, 
had  a  rare  sort  of  horse-racing ;  one  mounted  with  neither 
saddle,  bit,  nor  bridle,  and,  spreading  out  both  arms,  dashed 


278  NATIYE  PRODUCE.  Chap.  Xm. 

off  at  full  speed.  When  he  tumbled  off,  to  the  great  amuse- 
ment  of  the  by-standers,  the  servants  caught  the  horse  and 
rode  off  anywhere,  leaving  the  fallen  rider  to  return,  rubbing 
his  bruises.  The  poor  horse  was  kept  at  this  work  till  com- 
pletely exhausted,  each  of  the  guards  being  anxious  to  show 
that  he  could  keep  on  longer  than  the  others.  This  racing, 
and  want  of  com  and  care,  would  soon  knock  up  any  steeds 
they  may  obtain.  The  Doctor,  when  in  Angola,  happening 
to  ride  the  horse  of  a  gentleman  at  Pungo  Andongo,  re- 
marked to  his  companions,  "  This  would  do  for  Sekeletn." 
A  party  had  been  sent  over  a  thousand  miles  to  purchase 
it;  but  it  was  now  so  altered  as  not  to  be  recognisable. 
They  had  no  grain  at  the  time  we  were  there,  and  but  a 
little  poor  dry  grass. 

The  native  produce  cultivated  in  this,  the  centre  of  the 
continent,  consists  of  mapira,  or  mabele  (Iiolcus  eorghum), 
lobelebele  or  meshwera  {pennisetum),  millet^  maize,  ground- 
nuts (AracJUs  hypogcea),  underground  beans  (voancUeia)^ 
cucumbers,  melons,  pumpkins,  mchac,  or  sweet-reed  (Itoleus 
Bac€haratum)y  sweet  potatoes,  tobacco,  cotton,  and  Indian 
hemp  or  Bang  (Cannabis  sativa)  ;  but  wheat,  rice,  and  yams 
they  have  never  seen.  Sugar-cane,  bananas,  and  ca^ava 
grow  in  the  Barotse  valley.  They  have  no  garden  vege- 
tables, nor  any  of  the  fruits  foimd  nearer  the  sea,  such  as 
mangoes  and  oranges,  which  have  been  introduced  into 
Africa  from  other  countries. 

We  had  ascertained  at  the  Falls  the  sad  fate  of  the 
Missionaries  of  the  London  Society.  Our  friend  from  Natal, 
Mr.  Baldwin,  had  found  them  at  a  well  in  the  desert  suffering 
from  himger ;  they  had  no  horses,  without  which  game  there 
cannot  easily  be  procured.  They  had  failed  to  kill  tlie 
rhinoceroses  which  came  to  the  water  at  mght ;  Mr.  Bald- 


Chap.  XUI.  SAD  FATE  OF  THE  MISSION.  279 

win  kindly  shot  a  couple  of  animals  for  them;  bat  was 
apprehensive  when  he  left  them,  that  they  would  hardly 
lire  to  see  the  Makololo  country.  They  did  reach  Lin- 
yantiy  howeyer,  though  in  that  exhausted  state  on  which 
the  fever  of  the  country  is  sure  to  fasten.  The  severe 
drought  of  that  year  had  dried  up  the  great  marshes 
around  the  village,  and  rendered  fever  more  than  usually 
virulent  Aware,  fix>m  Dr.  Livingstone's  description,  of  the 
extreme  unhealthiness  of  the  place,  Mr.  Helmore,  who  seems 
soon  to  have  gained  the  people's  confidence,  told  the  Chief 
that  he  could  not  remain  in  that  locality,  but  wished  to  go 
on  to  a  higher  and  more  healthy  part,  north-east  of  the 
Falls.  Sekeletu  said  that  he  offered  to  take  him  to  Sesheke 
to  see  if  he  liked  that  better  than  LinyantL  **  You  will  take 
me  also,"  said  Mr.  Helmore,  "to  see  Mosi-oa-tunya,"  the 
picture  of  which,  in  *  Missionary  Travels,'  was  readily 
recognised;  but^  while  they  were  getting  ready  for  the 
journey,  the  wagon^irivers  were  seized  with  fever ;  Mre. 
Helmore  was  the  first  white  person  who  fell  a  victim  to 
the  fieital  malady.  The  devoted  missionary  then  told  the 
people  that,  although  his  wife  had  died,  he  did  not  mean 
to  leave  them,  but  would  remain  and  do  his  duty.  Notwith- 
standing the  hunger,  toil,  and  exhaustion,  consequent  on 
the  long  journey  through  the  desert,  and  this  heavy  affliction 
at  Linyanti,  the  good  man,  already  knowing  the  native 
language,  at  once  commenced  the  work  of  preaching  the 
GrospeL  We  heard  some  young  men  at  Sesheke  sing  the 
hymns  he  had  taught  them.  All  liked  and  spoke  kindly 
of  him ;  and  his  death  was  generally  regretted.  It  is 
probable  that  he  would  soon  have  exerted  a  powerful  and 
happy  influence  over  the  tribe ;  but  in  a  month  he  was  cut 
down  by  fever.    Our  information  was  derived  entirely  from 


280  FATAL  EFFECTS  OF  MALARIA.  Chap.  XIII. 

the  natives  of  the  different  tribes,  which  now  form  the 
Makololo.    They  are  generally  truthful,  unless  they  have 
some  self-interest  at  stake;  and  they  cannot  be  made  to 
combine  to  propagate    any  downright   falsehood.     Taking 
their  statements  as  probably  true,  the  whole  party  consisted 
of  twenty-two  persons,  of  whom  nine  were  Europeans,  and 
thirteen  people  of  colour ;  of  these  five  Europeans  and  four 
natives  perished  by  fever  in  less  than  three  months.    The 
missionary  associate  of  Helmore  was  then  left  in  a  some- 
what trying  position.    Four  out  of  the  nine  Europeans  had 
succumbed  to  the  disease,  and  his  own  wife  was  lying  ill,  and 
soon  to  be  the  fifth  victim.    He  had  been  but  a  short  time 
in  Africa,  his  knowledge  of  the  native  language  was  of  course 
limited,  his  influence  small,  and  he  had  no  experience :  ac- 
cordingly he  took  the  wise  course  of  leaving  the  country  ; 
his  wife  died  before  he  reached  the  healthy  desert    The 
native  servants  from  the  south,  who  had  never  seen  the 
fever  in  their  own  country,  thought  that  the  party  had  been 
poisoned  by  the  Makololo ;  but,  although  they  are  heathens, 
and  have  little  regard  for  human  life,  they  are  not  quite  so 
bad  as  that    The  spear,  and  not  poison,  is  their  weapon. 
There  is  no  occasion  for  suspecting  other  poison  than  malaria, 
that  being  more  than  enough.    We  have  witnessed  all  the 
symptoms  of  this  poison  scores  of  times,  and,  from  the  survi- 
vors' description,  believe  the  deaths  to  have  been  caused  by 
severe  African  fever,  and  nothing  else.    We  much  regretted 
that,  though  we  were  on  the  same  river  lower  down,  we  were 
not  aware  of  their  being  at  Linyanti  till  too  late  to  render 
the  medical  aid  they  so  much  needed.    It  is  undoubtedly 
advisable  that  every  Mission  should  have  a  medical  man  as 
an  essential  part  of  its  staff. 


Chap.  XIV.  SEKELETU  AND  OUR  PRESENTS.  281 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

Sekaleta  and  our  presents — His  idea  of  artiUety  piactioe  —  Sebitoane's  mster*i« 
description  of  the  first  appearance  of  fever — The  Makololo  the  most  intelli- 
gent of  an  the  tribes  seen  by  us  —  The  Makolok)  of  Old  and  Yoang  Africa  — 
The  women,  their  appearance  and  ornaments — Results  of  polygamy  ~ 
Bespectability  reckoned  by  the  number  of  wiyes  —  Apparent,  but  not  real, 
buying  of  wives — Elegant  amusements  of  the  ladies — Matokwane  — 
Smoking,  and  its  effects — Novel  use  of  a  spoon  —  Raw  butter — Begging — 
The  Ghiers  perquisites — The  Makololo  who  had  seen  the  sea  —  Justice 
among  the  Makololo — The  rights  of  labour — Religious  instruction  — 
Native  views  on  matrimony  —  The  Chief  and  the  headmen  —  Capital 
punishment — An  old  warrior  —  Ancient  costume  of  the  Makololo  —  Houses 
built  by  the  women — Amusements  of  the  children  —  Makololo  faith  in 
medicine — Dr.  Liyingstone  revisits  Linyanti  —  The  wagon  left  there  in 
1853  is  found  in  safe  keeping,  with  its  contents — A  native  Proclamation  — 
Buiial-plaoe  of  Mr.  Helmore  and  his  companions — Faithftdness  of  the 
Makololo — Sekeletu*s  health  improves — His  esteem  for  Dr.  Kirk  —  His 
deore  for  an  English  Settlement  on  the  Batoka  Highlands  —  Stealing  cattle 
considered  no  crime — Divine  Service  at  Sesheke  —  Native  doubts  as  to  the 
posflilnllty  of  a  Resurrection. 

Sekeletu  was  well  pleased  with  the  various  articles  we 
brought  for  him,  and  inquired,  if  a  ship  could  not  bring 
his  sugar-mill  and  the  other  goods  we  had  been  obliged  to 
leave  behind  at  Tette.  On  hearing  that  there  was  a  possi- 
bility of  a  powerful  steamer  ascending  as  far  as  Sinamane's, 
but  never  above  the  Grand  Victoria  Falls,  he  asked,  with 
charming  simplicity,  if  a  cannon  could  not  blow  away  the 
Falls,  so  as  to  allow  the  vessel  to  come  up  to  Sesheke. 

To  save  the  tribe  from  breaking  up,  by  the  continual  loss 
of  real  Makololo,  it  ought  at  once  to  remove  to  the  healthy 
Batoka  highlands,  near  the  Kafue.  Fully  aware  of  this,  Seke- 
letu remarked  that  all  his  people,  save  two,  were  convinced, 
that  if  they  remained  in  the  lowlands,  a  few  years  would 


282  INTELLIGENCE  OF  THE  MAKOLOLO.     Chap.  XIV. 

sufiSce  to  cut  off  all  the  real  Makololo ;  they  came  originally 
from  the  healthy  South,  near  the  confluence  of  the  Likwa 
and  Namagariy  where  fever  is  almost  unknown,  and  its 
ravages  had  been  as  frightful  among  them  here,  as  amongst 
Europeans  on  the  Coast.  Sebituane's  sister  described  its  first 
appearance  among  the  tribe,  after  their  settling  in  the  Ba- 
rotse  Valley  on  the  Zambesi.  Many  of  them  were  seized 
with  a  shivering  sickness,  as  if  from  excessive  cold:  they 
had  never  seen  the  like  before.  They  made  great  fires, 
and  laid  the  shivering  wretches  down  before  them;  but, 
pile  on  wood  as  they  might,  they  could  not  raise  heat 
enough  to  drive  the  cold  out  of  the  bodies  of  the  sufferers, 
and  they  shivered  on  till  they  died.  But,  though  all  preferred 
the  h%hlands,  they  were  afraid  to  go  there,  lest  the  Matebele 
should  come  and  rob  them  of  their  much-loved  cattle.  Sebi- 
tuane,  with  all  his  veterans,  could  not  withstand  that  enemy; 
and  how  could  they  be  resisted,  now  that  most  of  the  brave 
warriors  were  dead  ?  The  young  men  would  break,  and  run 
away  the  moment  they  saw  the  terrible  Matebele ;  being  as 
much  afraid  of  them,  as  the  black  conquered  tribes  are  of 
the  Makololo.  "But  if  the  Doctor  and  his  wife,"  said  the 
Chief  and  counsellors,  "  would  come  and  live  with  us,  we 
would  remove  to  the  highlands  at  once,  as  Moselekatse 
would  not  attack  a  place  where  the  daughter  of  his  friend, 
Moffat,  was  living." 

The  Makololo  are  by  far  the  most  intelh'gent  and 
enterprising  of  the  tribes  we  have  met.  None  but  brave 
and  daring  men  remained  long  with  Sebituane,  his  stem 
discipline  soon  eradicated  cowardice  from  his  army.  Deatli 
was  the  inevitable  doom  of  the  coward.  If  the  Chief  saw 
a  man  running  away  from  the  fight,  he  rushed  after  him 
with  amazing  speed,  and  cut  him  down;  or  waited  till  he 


Chap.  XIV.      WOMEN  AND  THEIR  ORNAMENTS.  283 

returned  to  the  town,  and  then  summoned '  the  deserter 
into  his  presence.  "Tou  did  not  wish  to  die  on  the  field, 
you  wished  to  die  at  home,  did  you  ?  you  shall  have  your 
wish!"  and  he  was  instantly  led  off  and  executed.  The 
present  race  of  young  men  are  inferior  in  most  respects  to 
their  fathers.  The  old  Makololo  had  many  manly  virtues ; 
they  were  truthftd,  and  never  stole,  excepting  in  what  they 
considered  the  honourable  way  of  lifting  cattle  in  fair  fight. 
But  this  can  hardly  be  said  of  their  sons;  who,  having 
been  brought  up  among  the  subjected  tribes,  have  acquired 
some  of  the  vices  peculiar  to  a  menial  and  degraded  race.  A 
few  of  the  old  Makololo  cautioned  us  not  to  leave  any  of 
our  property  exposed,  as  the  blacks  were  great  thieves ;  and 
some  of  our  own  men  advised  us  to  be  on  our  guard,  as  the 
Makololo  also  would  steal.  A  very  few  trifling  articles  were 
stolen  by  a  young  Makololo;  and  he,  on  being  spoken  to  on 
the  subject,  showed  great  ingenuity  in  excusing  himself,  by  a 
plausible  and  untruthful  story.  The  Makololo  of  old  were  hard 
workers,  and  did  not  consider  labour  as  beneath  them ;  but 
their  sons  never  work,  regarding  it  as  fit  only  for  the 
Mashona  and  Makalaka  servants.  Sebituane,  seeing  that 
the  rival  tribes  had  the  advantage  over  his,  in  knowing  how 
to  manage  canoes,  had  his  warriors  taught  to  navigate; 
and  his  own  son,  with  his  companions,  paddled  the  Chiefs 
canoe.  All  the  dishes,  baskets,  stools,  and  canoes,  are 
made  by  the  black  tribes  called  Manyeti  and  Matlotlora. 
The  houses  are  built  by  the  women  and  servants.  The  Mako- 
lolo women  are  vastly  superior  to  any  we  have  yet  seen. 
They  are  of  a  light  warm  brown  complexion,  have  pleasant 
countenances,  and  are  remarkably  quick  of  apprehension. 
They  dress  neatly,  wearing  a  kilt  and  mantle,  and  have 
many  ornaments.      Sebituane's  sister,    the    head  lady   of 


284  RESULTS  OF  POLYGAMY.  Chap.  XIV. 

Sesheke,  wore  eighteen  solid  brass  rings,  as  thick  as  one's 
finger,  on  each  leg,  and  three  of  copper  under  each  knee ; 
nineteen  brass  rings  on  her  left  arm,  and  eight  of  brass 
and  copper  on  her  right,  also  a  large  ivory  ring  aboYe 
each  elbow.  She  had  a  pretty  bead  necklace,  and  a  bead 
sash  encircled  her  waist  The  weight  of  the  bright  brass 
rings  round  her  legs  impeded  her  walking,  and  chafed 
her  ankles;  but,  as  it  was  the  fashion,  she  did  not  mind 
the  inconvenience,  and  guarded  against  the  pain,  by  putting 
soft  rag  round  the  lower  rings. 

The  practice  of  polygamy,  though  intended  to  increase, 
tends  to  diminish  the  tribe.  The  wealthy  old  men,  who  have 
plenty  of  cattle,  marry  all  the  pretty  young  girls.  An  ugly 
but  rich  old  fellow,  who  was  so  blind  that  a  servant  had  to 
lead  him  along  the  path,  had  two  of  the  very  handsomest 
young  wives  in  the  town;  one  of  them,  the  daughter  of 
Mokele,  being  at  least  half-a-century  younger  than  himself, 
was  ajsked, "  Do  you  like  him ?"  "No,"  she  replied ;  *'I  hate 
him,  he  is  so  disagreeable."  The  young  men  of  the  tribe,  who 
happen  to  have  no  cattle,  must  get  on  without  a  wife,  or  be 
content  with  one  who  has  few  personal  attractions.  This 
state  of  affairs  probably  leads  to  a  good  deal  of  immorality, 
and  children  are  few.  By  pointed  inquiries,  and  laying 
oneself  out  for  that  kind  of  knowledge,  one  might  be  able  to 
say  much  more  ;  but  if  one  behaves  as  he  must  do  among  the 
civilized,  and  abstains  from  asking  questions,  no  improper 
hints  even  will  be  given  by  any  of  the  native  women  we 
have  met. 

Polygamy,  the  sign  of  low  civilization,  and  the  source  of 
many  evils,  is  common,  and,  oddly  enough,  approved  of  even 
by  the  women.  On  hearing  that  a  man  in  England  could 
marry  but  one  wife,  several  ladies  exclaimed  that  they  would 


Chap.  XIV.  THE  MAKOLOLO  LADIES.  285 

not  like  to  live  in  such  a  country :  they  could  not  imagine 
bow  English  ladies  could  relish  our  custom;  for,  in  their 
way  of  thinking,  every  man  of  respectability  should  have  a 
number  of  wives,  as  a  proof  of  his  wealth.  Similar  ideas 
prevail  all  down  the  Zambesi  No  man  is  respected  by  his 
neighbour  who  has  not  several  wives.  The  reason  for  this  is, 
doubtless,  because,  having  the  produce  of  each  wife's  garden, 
he  is  wealthy  in  proportion  to  their  number. 

Wives  are  not  bought  and  sold  among  the  Makololo, 
though  the  marriage  looks  like  a  bargain.  The  husband, 
in  proportion  to  his  wealth,  hands  over  to  the  father-in- 
law  a  certain  number  of  cows,  not  as  purchase-money  for 
the  bride,  but  to  purchase  the  right  to  retain  in  his  own 
family  the  children  she  may  have ;  otherwise  the  children 
would  belong  to  the  family  of  the  wife's  father.  A  man  may 
have  perfect  control  over  his  wife  without  this  payment,  but 
not  of  the  children  ;  for,  as  the  parents  make  a  sacrifice  of  a 
portion  of  the  family  circle  in  parting  with  their  daughter, 
the  husband  must  sacrifice  some  of  his  property,  to  heal,  as 
it  were,  that  breach.  It  is  not  absolute  separation,  for,  when 
a  wife  dies,  the  husband  gives  an  ox  again,  to  cause  entire 
severance,  or  make  her  family  "  give  her  up."  The  Mako- 
lolo ladies  have  soft,  small,  delicate  hands  and  feet;  their 
foreheads  are  well  shaped  and  of  good  size ;  the  nose  not 
disagreeably  fla^  though  the  alee  are  full;  the  mouth, 
chin,  teeth,  eyes,  and  general  form  are  beautiftd,  and,  con- 
trasted with  the  West-Coast  negro,  quite  ladylike.  Having 
maidservants  to  wait  on  them  and  perform  the  principal 
part  of  the  household  work,  abundance  of  leisure  time  is 
left  them,  and  they  are  sometimes  at  a  loss  to  know  what  to 
do  with  it.  Unlike  their  fairer  and  more  fortunate  sisters 
in  Europe,   they  have  neither  sewing  nor   other  needle- 


286  SMOKING  AND  ITS  EFFECTS.  Chap.  XIV. 

work,  nor  pianoforte  practice,  to  occupy  their  fingers,  nor 
reading  to  improve  their  minds;  few  have  children  to  at- 
tend to,  and  time  does  hang  rather  heavily  on  their  hands. 
The  men  wickedly  aver  that  their  two  great  amusements,  or 
modes  for  killing  time,  are  sipping  beer,  and  secretly  smoking 
bang,  or  Indian  hemp,  here  known  as  matokwane.  Althou^ 
the  men  indulge  pretty  freely  in  smoking  it,  they  do  not 
like  their  wives  to  follow  their  example,  and  many  of  the 
"monsters"  prohibit  it.  Nevertheless,  some  women  do 
smoke  it  secretly,  and  the  practice  causes  a  disease  known 
by  a  minute  eruption  on  the  skin,  quite  incurable  unless 
the  habit  be  abandoned*  The  Chief  himself  is  a  slave  to 
this  deleterious  habit,  and  could  hardly  be  induced  to  give 
it  up,  even  during  the  short  time  he  was  under  medical  treat- 
ment We  had  ample  opportunities  for  observing  the  ef- 
fects of  this  matokwane  smoking  on  our  men.  It  makes 
them  feel  very  strong  in  body,  but  it  produces  exactly  the 
opposite  effect  upon  the  mind.  Two  of  our  finest  young 
men  became  inveterate  smokers,  and  partially  idiotia 
The  performances  of  a  group  of  matokwane  smokers  are 
somewhat  grotesque :  they  are  provided  with  a  calabash  of 
pure  water,  a  split  bamboo,  five  feet  long,  and  the  great 
pipe,  which  has  a  large  calabash  or  kudu's  horn  chamber  to 
contain  the  wiater,  through  which  the  smoke  is^  drawn,  Nar- 
ghille  fashion,  on  its  way  to  the  mouth.  £ach  smoker  takes 
a  few  whiffs,  the  last  being  an  extra  long  one,  and  hands 
the  pipe  to  his  neighbour.  He  seems  to  swallow  the  fumes ; 
for,  striving  against  the  convulsive  action  of  the  muscles  of 
chest  and  throat,  he  takes  a  mouthful  of  water  from  the  cala- 
bash, waits  a  few  seconds,  and  then  pours  water  and  smoke 
from  his  mouth  down  the  groove  of  the  bamboo.  The  smoke 
causes  violent  coughing  in  all,  and  in  some  a  species  of  frenzy. 


Chap.  XIV.  RAW  BUTTER— BEGGING.  287 

which  passes  away  in  a  rapid  stream  of  tmmeaning  words^  or 
short  sentences,  as,  "  the  green  grass  grows,**  *'  the  fet  cattle 
thrive,"  *'the  fish  swim."  No  one  in  the  group  pays  the 
slightest  attention  to  the  vehement  eloquence,  or  the  sage  or 
silly  utterance  of  the  oracle,  who  stops  abruptly,  and,  the 
instant  common  sense  returns,  looks  rather  foolish. 

Our  visit  to  Sesheke  broke  in  upon  the  monotony  of 
their  daily  life,  and  we  had  crowds  of  visitors  both  men 
and  women ;  especially  at  meal-times,  for  then  they  had 
the  double  attraction,  of  seeing  white  men  eat,  and  of  eat- 
ing with  them.  The  men  made  an  odd  use  of  the  spoon 
in  supping  porridge  and  milk,  employing  it  to  convey  the 
food  to  the  palm  of  the  left  hand,  which  passed  it  on  to 
the  mouth.  We  shocked  the  over-refined  sensibilities  of 
the  ladies,  by  eating  butter  on  our  bread.  "  Look  at  them, 
look  at  them,  they  -are  actually  eating  raw  butter,  ugh  1 
how  nasty!"  or  pitying  us,  a  goodwife  would  say,  "Hand 
it  here  to  be  melted,  and  then  you  can  dip  your  bread 
into  it  decently,"  They  were  as  much  disgusted  as  we 
should  be  by  seeing  an  Esquimaux  eating  raw  whale's  blub- 
ber. In  iheir  opinion  butter  is  not  fit  to  be  eaten  until  it 
is  cooked  or  melted.  The  principal  use  they  make  of  it  is 
to  anoint  the  body,  and  it  keeps  the  skin  smooth  and  glossy. 
Men  and  women  begged  hard  for  such  things  as  they 
fancied,  and  were  not  at  all  displeased  when  refased :  they 
probably  thought  there  was  no  harm  in  asking;  it  did  not 
hurt  us,  and  cost  their  gUb  tongues  no  effort  Mamire 
asked  for  a  black  frock-coat,  because  he  admired  the  colour ! 
"When  told  he  might  have  it  for  a  nice  new  kaross  of  young 
lechwes'  skins,  he  smiled,  and  asked  no  more ;  a  joke  usually 
stopped  the  begging. 

The  Chief  receives  the  hump  and  ribs  of  every  ox  slaught- 


288  THE  CHIEFS  PERQUISITES.  Chap.  XIV. 

ered  by  his  people,  and  tribute  of  com,  beer,  honey,  wild 
fruits,  hoes,  paddles,  and  canoes,  from  the  Barotse,  Manyeti, 
Matlotlora,  and  other  subject  tribes.  The  principal  revenue, 
.  however,  is  derived  from  ivory.  All  the  ivory  of  the  country, 
in  theory,  belongs  to  the  Chief,  and  the  tusks  of  every 
elephant  killed  are  placed  at  his  disposal  This  game-law 
at  first  sight  seems  more  stringent  than  that  of  the  Portu- 
guese, and  of  the  tribes  adjacent  to  them,  where  only  one  tusk 
belongs  to  Government,  and  the  hunter  retains  the  other. 
But  here  the  Chief  is  expected  to  be  generous,  and,  as  a 
father  among  his  children,  to  share  the  proceeds  of  the  ivory 
\yith  his  people.  They  say,  "  Children  require  the  guidance 
of  their  fathers,  so  as  not  to  be  cheated  by  foreigners.'*  This 
reconciles  them  to  the  law.  The  upper  classes,  too,  receive 
the  lion's  share  of  the  profits  from  the  elephant-hunt  without 
undergoing  much  of  the  toil  and  danger;  and  the  subject 
tribes  get  the  flesh,  which  is  all  they  ever  had,  and  no  one 
appears  to  have  any  wish  to  change  the  established  custom. 
Our  own  men,  however,  had  often  discussed  the  rights  of 
labour  during  their  travels;  and,  having  always  been  paid  by 
us  for  their  work,  had  acquired  certain  new  ideas,  whicli 
rather  jostled  against  this  old  law.  They  thought  it  unjust 
to  be  compelled  to  give  up  both  tusks  to  the  Chief:  bad  as 
the  Portuguese  were,  they  were  not  so  oppressive  as  that ; 
they  allowed  the  hunter  one  of  the  tusks ;  Sekeletu's  law  was 
wrong ;  they  wished  he  would  repeal  it  This  usage  doubtless 
preserves  the  elephants,  though  that  is  not  the  object  in  view. 
Pitsane  shot  a  few  on  his  return  from  Angola,  and  then  gave 
up  hunting  altogether. 

Moselekatse,  too,  claims  all  the  ivory  in  his  country,  and 
allows  no  stranger  even  to  hunt  the  elephant  A  gentleman 
from  Natal,  ignorant  of  this  prohibition,  went  with  the  int^n- 


Chap.  XIV.  ADMINISTRATION  OF  JUSTICE.  289 

tion  of  shooting  these  animals,  but  was  soon  taken  up  and 
carried  before  the  Chief.  He  was  kept  a  prisoner  at  large  for 
three  months,  and  allowed  to  hunt  the  buffalo,  giraffe,  rhino- 
ceros, and  antelope  as  much  as  he  pleased ;  but  the  moment 
he  began  to  follow  the  tracks  of  the  elephant,  his  attendants, 
or  keepers,  turned  his  horse's  head  in  the  opposite  direction. 

The  Makololo  man,  Seroke,  who  had  recentiy  returned 
from  Benguek,  with  tiie  tails  of  tiie  poor  bewitched  horses, 
called  on  us  with  some  of  his  companions  soon  after  our 
arriyal.    They  had  found  out  that  all  the  Doctor  had  told 
them  about  the  land  being  surrounded  by  the  ocean  was  true. 
They  had  seen  the  sea,  and  the  wonders  of  the  sea-shore,  and 
ships,  just  as  the  Book  had  said :  travellers  alone  knew  any- 
thing, while  those  who  knew  not  the  Book,  and  remained  at 
home,  were  mere  children  in  knowledge.    The  merchants  of 
Bengnela  had  treated  them  kindly  ;  and,  to  encourage  trade 
with  the  Makololo,  had  given  to  each  one  a  liberal  present  of 
clothing.  Before  coming  to  visit  us  they  put  on  all  these  new 
clothes,  and  were  certainly  better  dressed  than  we  were  our- 
selves.    They  wore  shirts,  well  washed  and  starched,  coats, 
and  trousers,  white  socks  and  patent-leather  boots,  a  red 
Eilmamock  cowl  on  the  head,  and  a  brown  wide-awake  on 
the  top  of  that     They  had  a  long  conversation  with  our  men 
about  the  wonderful  things  they  had  seen,  and  all  agreed 
that  the  Makololo  who  tarried  at  home  were  mere  game,  or 
beasts  of  the  field.    But  their  wealthier  neighbours,  referred 
to  as  pdoholo,  or  game,  were  by  no  means  disposed  to  admit 
that  the  travellers  knew  more  than  they  did.     "They  had 
seen  the  sea,  had  they,  and  what  is  that?    Nothing  but 
water ;  they  could  see  plenty  of  water  at  home, — ^ay,  more 
than  they  wanted  to  see ;  and  white  people  came  to  their 
towns :  why  then  travel  to  the  Coast,  to  look  at  them  ?** 
Justice  appears  upon  the  whole  to  be  pretty  fairly  admi- 

u 


290  M08H0B0TWANE  AND  HIS  MEN.        Chap.  XIV. 

nisteFed  among  the  Makololo.  A  headman  took  some  beads 
and  a  blanket  from  one  of  his  men  who  had  been  with  us ; 
the  matter  was  brought  before  the  Chief,  and  he  immediately 
ordered  the  goods  to  be  restored,  and  decreed,  moreover,  that 
no  headman  should  take  the  property  of  the  men  who  had 
returned.  In  theory,  all  the  goods  brought  back  belonged  to 
the  Chief ;  the  men  laid  them  at  his  feet^  and  made  a  formal 
offer  of  them  all ;  he  looked  at  the  articles,  and  told  the  m^i 
to  keep  themu  This  is  almost  invariably  the  case.  Tuba 
Mokoro,  however,  fearing  lest  Sekeletu  might  take  a  fancy 
to  some  of  his  best  goods,  exhibited  only  a  few  of  his  old  and 
least  valuable  acquisitions.  Masakasa  had  little  to  show ;  he 
had  committed  some  breach  of  native  law  in  one  of  the 
villages  on  the  way,  and  paid  a  heavy  fine  rather  than  have 
the  matter  brought  to  the  Doctor's  ears.  Each  carrier  is 
entitled  to  a  portion  of  the  goods  in  his  bundle,  though  pur- 
chased by  the  Chiefs  ivory,  and  they  never  hesitate  to  claim 
their  rights ;  but  no  wages  can  be  demanded  from  the  CSiief, 
if  he  fails  to  respond  to  the  first  application. 

Our  men,  accustomed  to  our  ways,  thought  that  the  Eng- 
lish system  of  paying  s^  man  for  his  labour  was  the  (mly 
correct  one,  and  some  even  said  it  would  be  better  to  live 
under  a  Gt)vemment  where  life  and  labour  were  more  secure 
and  valuable  than  here.  While  with  us,  they  always  conducted 
themselves  with  propriety  during  Divine  service,  and  not  only 
maintained  decorum  themselves,  but  insisted  on  other  natives 
who  might  be  present  doing  the  same.  When  Moshobotwane, 
the  Batoka  chief,  came  on  one  occasion  with  a  number  of  his 
men,  they  listened  in  silence  to  the  reading  of  the  Bible  in 
the  Makololo  tongue ;  but,  as  soon  as  we  all  knelt  down  to 
pray,  they  commenced  a  vigorous  clapping  of  hands,  their 
mode  of  asking  a  favour.  Our  indignant  Makololo  soon 
silenced  their  noisy  accompaniment,  and  looked  with  great 


Chap.  XIV.        NATIVE  VIEWS  ON  MATRIMONY.  291 

contempt  on  this  display  of  ignorance.  Nearly  all  our  men 
had  learned  to  repeat  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Apostles* 
Creed  in  their  own  language,  and  felt  rather  proud  of  being 
able  to  do  so ;  and  when  they  reached  home,  they  liked  to 
recite  them  to  groups  of  admiring  friends.  Their  ideas  of 
right  and  wrong  differ  in  no  respect  from  our  own,  except 
in  their  professed  inability  to  see  how  it  can  be  improper 
for  a  man  to  have  more  than  one  wife.  A  year  or  two  ago 
sev^ul  of  the  wives  of  those  who  had  been  absent  with  us 
petitioned  the  Chief  for  leave  to  marry  again.  They  thought 
that  it  was  of  no  use  waiting  any  longer,  their  husbands  must 
be  dead;  but  Sekeletu  reiused  permissian;  he  himself  had 
bet  a  number  of  oxen  that  the  Doctor  would  return  with 
their  husbands,  and  he  had  promised  the  absent  men  that 
their  wives  should  be  kept  for  them.  The  impatient  spouses 
had  therefore  to  wait  a  little  longer.  Some  of  them,  how- 
ever, eloped  with  other  men ;  the  wife  of  Mantlanyane,  for 
instance,  ran  off  and  left  his  little  boy  amongst  strangers. 
Mantlanyane  was  very  angry  when  he  heard  of  it,  not 
that  he  cared  much  about  her  deserting  him,  for  he  had 
two  other  wives  at  Tette,  but  he  was  indignant  at  her 
abandoning  his  boy. 

While  we  were  at  Sesheke,  an  ox  was  kUled  by  a  croco- 
dile; a  man  found  the  carcass  floating  in  the  river,  and  ap- 
propriated the  meat  When  the  owner  heard  of  this,  he 
requested  him  to  come  before  the  Chief,  as  he  meant  to 
complain  of  him;  rather  than  go,  the  delinquent  settled  the 
matter  by  giving  one  of  his  own  oxen  in  lieu  of  the  lost  one. 
A  headman  from  near  Linyanti  came  with  a  complaint  that 
all  his  people  had  run  off,  owing  to  the  **  himger.''  Sekeletu 
said,  ^  You  must  not  be  left  to  grow  lean  alone,  some  of  them 
must  come  back  to  yoiu"  He  had  thus  an  order  to  compel 
their  return,  if  he  chose  to  put  it  in  force.    Families  fre- 

u  2 


292  AN  OLD  WARRIOR.  Chap.  XIV. 

quently  leave  their  own  headman  and  flee  to  another  yiUage, 
and  sometimes  a  whole  village  decamps  by  night,  leaving 
the  headman  by  himselfl  Sekeletu  rarely  interfered  wiUi 
the  liberty  of  the  subject  to  choose  his  own  headman,  and,  as 
it  is  often  the  fault  of  the  latter  which  causes  the  people  to 
depart,  it  is  punishment  enough  for  him  to  be  left  alone. 
Flagrant  diBobedience  to  the  Chiefs  orders  is  punished  ^th 
death.  A  Moshubia  man  was  ordered  to  cut  some  reeds  for 
Sekeletu :  he  went  off,  and  hid  himself  for  two  days  instead. 
For  this  he  was  doomed  to  die,  and  was  carried  in  a  canoe 
to  the  middle  of  the  river,  choked,  and  tossed  into  the 
stream.  The  spectators  hooted  the  executioners,  calling 
out  to  them  that  they  too  would  soon  be  carried  out  and 
strangled.  Occasionally  when  a  man  is  sent  to  beat  an 
offender,  he  tells  him  his  object,  returns,  and  assures  the 
Chief  he  has  nearly  killed  him.  The  transgressor  then  keeps 
for  a  while  out  of  sight,  and  the  matter  is  forgotten.  The 
river  here  teems  with  monstrous  crocodiles,  and  women  are 
frequently,  while  drawing  water,  carried  off  by  these  reptiles. 
We  met  a  venerable  warrior,  sole  survivor,  probably,  of  the 
Mantatee  host  which  threatened  to  invade  the  colony  in  1824. 
He  retained  a  vivid  recollection  of  their  encounter  with  the 
Griquas:  "As  we  looked  at  the  men  and  horses,  puffs  of 
smoke  arose,  and  some  of  us  dropped  down  dead ! "  "  Never 
saw  anything  like  it  in  my  life,  a  man's  brains  lying  in  one 
place  and  his  body  in  another  I "  They  could  not  understand 
what  was  killing  them ;  a  ball  struck  a  man's  shield  at  an 
angle ;  knocked  his  arm  out  of  joint  at  the  shoulder ;  and 
leaving  a  mark,  or  burn  as  he  said,  on  the  shield,  killed 
another  man  close  by.  We  saw  the  man  with  his  shoulder 
still  dislocated.  Sebetuane  was  present  at  the  fight,  and 
had  an  exalted  opinion  of  the  power  of  white  people  ever 
afterwards. 


Chap.  XIV.  CONSTRUCTION  OP  HUTS.  293 

The  andent  ooetame  of  the  Makololo  consisted  of  the 
skill  of  a  lamb,  kid,  jackal,  ocelot,  or  other  small  animal, 
worn  round  and  below  the  loins:  and  in  cold  weather  a 
kaross,  or  skin  mantle,  was  thrown  oyer  the  shoulders.  The 
kaross  is  now  laid  aside,  and  the  young  men  of  fashion  wear 
a  monkey-jacket  and  a  skin  round  the  hips ;  but  no  trousers, 
waistcoat,  or  shirt  The  river  and  lake  tribes  are  in  general 
very  cleanly,  bathing  several  times  a  day.  The  Makololo 
women  use  water  rather  sparingly,  rubbing  themselves  with 
melted  butter  instead :  this  keeps  off  parasites,  but  gives  their 
dolhes  a  rancid  odour.  One  stage  of  civilization  often  leads 
of  necessity  to  another — ^the  possession  of  clothes  creates  a 
demand  for  soap ;  give  a  man  a  needle,  and  he  is  soon  back 
to  you  for  thread. 

This  being  a  time  of  mourning,  on  account  of  the  illness  of 
the  Chief,  the  men  were  negligent  of  their  persons,  they  did  not 
cut  their  hair,  or  have  merry  dances,  or  carry  spear  and  shield 
when  they  walked  abroad.  The  wife  of  Pitsane  was  busy 
TOftlrfng  a  large  hut,  while  we  were  in  the  town :  she  informed 
us  that  the  men  left  house-building  entirely  to  the  women 
and  servants.  A  round  tower  of  stakes  and  reeds,  nine  or 
ten  feet  high,  is  raised  and  plastered ;  a  floor  is  next  made 
of  soft  tu&,  or  ant-hill  material  and  cowdung.  This  plaster 
prevents  the  poisonous  insects,  called  tampans,  whose  bite 
causes  fever  in  some,  and  painful  sores  in  all,  from  harbour- 
ing in  the  cracks  or  soil.  The  roof,  which  is  much  larger 
in  diameter  than  the  tower,  is  made  on  the  ground,  and 
then,  many  persons  assisting,  lifted  up  and  placed  on  the 
tower,  and  thatched.  A  plastered  reed  fence  is  next  built 
up  to  meet  the  outer  part  of  the  roof,  which  still  projects  a 
little  over  this  fence,  and  a  space  of  three  feet  remains  be- 
tween it  and  the  tower.  We  slept  in  this  space,  instead 
of  in  the  tower,  as  the  inner  door  of  the  hut  we  occupied 


294  AMUSEMENTS  OP  CHILDREN.  Chap.  XIV. 

was  uncomfortably  small,  being  only  nineteen  inches  bigh, 
and  twenty-two  inches  wide  at  the  floor.  A  foot  from  the 
bottom  it  measured  seventeen  inches  in  Inreadth,  and  close 
to  the  top  only  tweWe  inches,  so  it  was  a  difScult  matter  to 
get  through  it.  The  tower  has  no  light  or  ventilationy  except 
through  this  small  door.  The  reason  a  lady  assigned  for  hay- 
ing the  doors  so  very  small  was  to  keep  out  the  mice ! 

The  children  have  merry  times,  especially  in  the  cool  of 
the  evening.  One  of  their  games  consists  of  a  little  girl 
being  carried  on  the  shoulders  of  two  others.  She  sits  with 
outstretched  arms,  as  they  walk  about  with  her,  and  all  the 
rest  clap  their  hands,  and  stopping  before  each  hut  sing 
pretty  airs,  some  beating  time  on  their  little  kilts  of  cowskin, 
others  making  a  curious  humming  sound  between  the  songs. 
Excepting  this  and  the  skipping-rope,  the  play  of  the  girls 
consiBts  in  imitation  of  the  serious  work  of  their  mothers, 
building  little  huts,  making  small  pots,  and  cooking,  pound- 
ing corn  in  miniature  mortars,  or  hoeing  tiny  gardens.  The 
boys  play  with  spears  of  reeds  pointed  with  wood,  and 
small  shields,  or  bows  and  arrows ;  or  amuse  themselves  in 
making  little  cattle-pens,  or  in  moulding  catfle  in  day; 
they  show  great  ingenuity  in  the  imitation  of  various-shaped 
horns.  Some  too  are  said  to  use  slings,  but  as  soon  as  they 
can  watch  the  goats,  or  calves,  tiiey  are  sent  to  the  field. 
We  saw  many  boys  riding  on  the  calves  they  had  in  chaige, 
but  this  is  an  innovation  since  the  arrival  of  the  Engliah 
with  their  horses.  Tselane,  one  of  the  ladies,  on  observing 
Dr.  Livingstone  noting  observations  on  the  wet  and  dry  bulb 
thermometers,  thought  that  he  too  was  engaged  in  play; 
for  on  receiving  no  reply  to  her  question,  which  was  rather 
difficult  to  answer,  as  the  native  tongue  has  no  scientific 
terms,  she  said,  with  roguish  glee,  "  Poor  thing,  playing  like 
a  little  child  I " 


Chap.  XIV.  BELIEF  IN  "  MEDICINES."  295 

Like  other  AMcans,  the  Makololo  have  great  faith  in  the 
power  of  mediciiie ;  they  believe  that  there  is  an  especial 
medicine  for  every  ill  that  flesh  is  heir  ta  Mamire  is  anxious 
to  have  children;  he  has  six  wives,  and  only  one  boy,  and 
he  begs  earnestly  for  "child  medicine.^  The  mother  of 
Sekeleta  came  from  the  Barotse  Valley  to  see  her  son. 
Thinks  she  has  lost  flesh  since  Dr.  Livingstone  was  here 
before,  and  asks  for  "  the  medicine  of  fatness."  The  Makololo 
consider  plumpness  an  essential  part  of  beauty  in  women, 
but  the  extreme  stoutness,  mentioned  by  Captain  Speke,  in 
the  north,  would  be  considered  hideous  here,  for  the  men 
have  been  overheard  speaking  of  a  lady  whom  we  call  *^  in- 
clined to  embonpamty*  as  " fat  unto  ugliness." 

Two  packages  from  the  Euruman,  containing  letters  and 
newspapers,  reached  Linyanti  previous  to  our  arrival,  and 
Sekeletu,  not  knowing  when  we  were  coming,  left  them  there; 
but  now  at  once  sent  a  messenger  for  them.  This  man 
returned  on  the  seventh  day,  having  travelled  240  geographi- 
cal miles.  One  of  the  packages  was  too  heavy  for  him,  and  he 
left  it  behind.  As  the  Doctor  wished  to  get  some  more  medi- 
cine and  papers  out  of  the  wagon  left  at  Linyanti  in  1853, 
he  decided  upon  going  thither  himself.  The  Chief  gave  him 
his  own  horse,  now  about  twelve  years  old,  and  some  men. 
He  found  everything  in  his  wagon  as  safe  as  when  he  left  it 
seven  years  before.  The  headmen,  Mosale  and  Pekonyane, 
received  him  cordially,  and  lamented  that  they  had  so  little 
to  offer  him.  Oh!  had  he  only  arrived  the  year  previous, 
when  there  was  abundance  of  milk  and  com  and  beer. 

Very  early  the  next  morning  the  old  town-crier,  Ma-Pulen- 
yane,  of  his  own  accord  made  a  public  proclamation,  which, 
in  the  perfect  stillness  of  the  town  long  before  dawn  was 
striking:  ^^I  have  dreamedl  I  have  dreamedl  I  have  dreamed! 
Thou  Mosale  and  thou  Pekonyane,  my  lords,  be  not  faint- 


296  ARTICLES  IN  SAFE  CUSTODY.  Chap.  XIV. 

hearted,  nor  let  your  hearts  be  sore,  but  believe  all  the  wwds 
of  JFonare  (the  Doctor)  for  his  heart  is  white  as  milk  towards 
the  Makololo.  I  dreamed  that  he  was  coming,  and  that  the 
tribe  would  live,  if  you  prayed  to  God  and  gave  heed  to  the 
word  of  Monare."  Ma-Pulenyane  showed  Dr.  Livingstone 
the  burying-place  where  poor  Helmore  and  seven  others  were 
laid,  distinguishing  those  whom  he  had  put  to  rest>  and  those 
for  whom  Mafale  had  performed  that  last  office.  Nothing 
whatever  marked  the  spot^  and  with  the  native  idea  of  hiding 
the  dead,  it  was  said,  **it  will  soon  be  all  overgrown  with 
bushes,  for  no  one  will  cultivate  thera"  None  but  Ma- 
Pulenyane  approached  the  place,  the  others  stood  at  a  re- 
spectful distance ;  they  invariably  avoid  everything  connected 
with  death,  emd  no  such  thing  as  taking  portions  of  human 
bodies  to  make  charms  of,  as  is  the  custom  further  north, 
has  ever  been  known  among  the  Makololo. 

When  the  wagon  was  left  eight  years  before,  several  loose 
articles,  as  the  medicine-chest,  magic  lantern,  tools,  and  books, 
were  given,  by  Sekeletu,  into  the  charge  of  his  wives.  Every- 
thing was  now  found  in  safety.  The  wagon  was  in  sufficiently 
good  condition  for  the  Doctor  to  sleep  in,  though  the  cover- 
ing had  partly  rotted  off,  and  when  the  Chief  was  absent  at 
the  Barotse,  the  white  ants  had  destroyed  one  of  the  wheels. 
Sekeletu's  wives,  Seipone  and  Mantu,  without  being  asked, 
cooked  abundance  of  good  beef,  and  baked  a  large  supply  of 
little  cakes  after  the  pattern  which  the  Makololo,  who  went  to 
Loanda,  had  brought  back  to  them.  With  gentle  reproaches 
for  not  bringing  Ma-Bobert,  or  Mrs.  Livingstone,  they  re- 
peated some  of  the  prattle  of  her  children  in  Sechuana,  and 
said,  '^Are  we  never  more  to  know  anything  of  them  bat 
their  names?"  These  little  points  are  noticed  with  feelings 
of  gratitude  for  abundant  and  unvarying  kindness  on  nu- 
merous occasions  during  many  years.     But  no  man  in  his 


Chap.  XIV.        FAITHFULNESS  OF  THE  MAKOLOLO.  297 

senses  would  suppose  that  the  confidence  which  inspired 
these  kind  expressions  would  be  imparted  at  sight  to  any 
novice.  It  ought  never  to  be  forgotten  that  influence  among 
the  heathen  can  be  acquired  only  by  a  patient  continuance 
in  well-doing,  and  that  good  manners  are  as  necessary  among 
barbarians,  as  among  the  civilized. 

Among  the  articles  put  into  the  hands  of  Sekeletu's  wives 
for  greater  security  were  two  manuscript  volumes  of  notes, 
which,  on  stalling  in  1853  from  the  interior  to  the  West 
Coast,  Dr.  Livingstone  wished,  in  the  event  of  his  never  re- 
turning from  that  hazardous  journey,  to  be  transmitted  to 
his  fsunily.  A  letter  was  left  with  them^  addressed  to  any 
English  traveller  or  trader,^  and  expressing  a  desire  that  the 
volumes  might  be  handed  to  Mr.  Moffat.  One  contained 
notes  on  the  discovery  of  Lake  Ngami,  and  on  the  Kalahari 
Desert ;  the  other,  notes  on  its  natural  history.  The  Mako- 
lolo,  who  had  guarded  all  the  rest  of  the  property  most  faith- 
fully, declared  that  they  had  delivered  the  books  to  one  of 
the  only  two  traders  who  had  visited  them.  When  they 
were  now  told  that  the  person  in  question  denied  their  recep- 
tion, Seipone,  one  of  Sekeletu's  wives,  said,  "He  lies,  I  gave 
them  to  him  myself."  Conscience  seems  to  have  worked; 
for  the  trader,  having  gone  to  Moselekatse*s  country,  one  of 
the  volumes  was  put  into  the  mail-bag  coming  from  the 
south,  which  came  to  hand  with  the  lock  taken  off  in  quite  a 
scientific  manner. 

Taking  a  supply  of  the  medicine,' which  had  been  lying  only 
a  hundred  yards  from  the  spot  where  the  Missionaries  helplessly 
perished,  the  Doctor  returned  towards  Sesheke.  The  journey 
took  three  days  each  way.  The  path  leads  through  a  district 
infested  by  tsetse ;  to  preserve  the  horses  from  being  bitten, 
this  was  passed  through  by  night.  The  party  slept  at  the 
different  Makololo  cattle-stations.    At  one  a  lion  had  been 


298 


SEKELETU'S  HEALTH  IMPROVED.   Chap.  XIV. 


killed  by  a  serpent.  We  have  often  heard  of  animala  being  so 
killed ;  but  in  a  twenty-two  years'  residence  in  the  conntry. 
Dr.  Livingstone  has  only  met  with  one  case  in  which  the 
bite  was  fatal  to  a  human  being.  Ipecacuanha  mixed  with 
ammonia,  and  rubbed  into  the  wound,  is  much  esteemed 
in  India.  A  key,  pressed  on  the  puncture  for  some  time, 
eztaucts  the  poison ;  and  when  ipecacuanha  is  not  at  hand, 
a  little  powder  ignited  on  the  spot  will  do  instead.  Very 
large  herds  of  kualatas  were  seen  on  the  plains,  and  many 
black  bucks,  though  their  habitat  is  generally  on  the  hills.* 

Sekeletu's  health  improved  greatly  during  our  visit>  the 
melancholy  foreboding  left  his  spirits,  and  he  became  che^^ 
ful,  but  resolutely  refused  to  leave  his  den,  and  appear  in 
public  till  he  was  perfectly  cured,  and  had  r^ained  what  he 
considered  his  good  looks.  He  also  feared  lest  some  of  those 
who  had  bewitched  him  originally  might  still  be  among  the 
people,  and  neutralize  our  remedie8.t 

As  we  expected  another  steamer  to  be  at  Kongone  in 


*  A  female  knalata  (AigooetM 
equina)  shot  here  measured — 

tL  tn. 

AtwithetB     4  8 

Entire  length 6  8 

Tjength  of  bom     2  2 

Half  oircmnferenoe  at  chest  2  8 

These  measorements  maybe  inte- 
restmg  to  those  who  try  to  aooli- 
matize  animals.  The  elands  in  Eng- 
land are  small.  One  we  measured 
in  Africa  in  1849  was  six  feet  four 
inches  at  the  withers,  and  it  seemed 
an  animal  of  only  ordinaiy  size.  Its 
power  of  taking  on  fitt,  and  the 
quantity  of  fluid  found  in  its  stomach 
in  the  driest  season,  are  quite  remark- 
able. It  browses  chiefly  on  the 
leayes  of  trees. 

t  It  was  with  sorrow  that  we  learned 
by  a  letter  from  Mr.  Mofl&t,  in  1864. 


that  poor  Sekeleta  was  dead.  As  wiU 
be  mentioned  further  on,  men  were 
sent  with  us  to  bring  np  more  medi- 
cine. They  prefeiTed  to  remain  on 
the  Shire,  and,  as  they  were  free  men, 
weoould  do  no  more  than  try  and  per* 
snade  them  to  hasten  back  to  their 
chief  with  iodine  and  other  remediesL 
They  took  the  parcel,  but  there  being 
only  two  real  Makolob  among  tiieoi, 
these  could  neither  return  themaelyes 
alone  nor  force  their  attendants  to 
leave  a  pert  of  the  conntry  where 
they  were  independoit.  and  oonld 
support  themselves  with  ease.  Seke- 
letu,  however,  Uved  long  enough  to 
receive  and  acknowledge  goods  to 
the  value  of  502.,  sent,  in  lien  of 
those  which  remained  in  Tette,  by 
Robert  Moffitt,  jun.,  since  dead. 


Chap.  XIV.        SEKELETU'S  ESTEEM  FOB  DR.  KIRK.  299 

Noyember,  it  was  impoesible  for  us  to  remain  in  Sesbeke  more 
than  one  month.  Before  our  departure,  the  Chief  and  his 
principal  men  expressed  in  a  formal  manner  their  great 
desire  to  have  English  people  settled  on  the  Batoka  high- 
lands. At  one  time  he  proposed  to  go  as  far  as  Phori,  in 
order  to  select  a  place  of  residence;  but  as  he  afterwards 
saw  reasons  for  remaining  where  he  was,  till  his  cure  was 
completed,  he  gave  orders  to  those  sent  with  us,  in  the  event 
of  our  getting,  on  our  return,  past  the  rapids  near  Tette,  not 
to  bring  us  to  Sesheke,  but  to  send  forward  a  messenger, 
and  he  with  the  whole  tribe  would  come  to  us.  Dr.  Kirk 
being  of  the  same  age,  Sekeletu  was  particularly  anxious  that 
he  should  come  and  live  with  him.  He  said  he  would  cut  off 
a  section  of  the  country  for  the  special  use  of  the  English ;  and 
on  being  told  that  in  all  probability  their  descendants  would 
cause  disturbance  in  his  country,  he  replied,  ^  These  would 
be  only  domestic  feuds,  and  of  no  importance."  The  great 
extent  of  uncultiyated  land  on  the  cool  and  now  unpeopled 
highlands,  has  but  to  be  seen,  to  convince  the  spectator 
how  much  room  there  is,  and  to  spaxe,  for  a  vastly  greater 
population  than  ever,  in  our  day,  can  be  congregated  there. 

The  agricultural  tribes  are  more  peaceful  than  the  pastoral. 
The  Makololo  are  both  pastoral  and  agricultural,  and  their 
love  for  lifting  cattle  often  leads  them  to  great  distances. 
This  marauding,  if  sanctioned  by  the  Chief,  is  not  considered 
dkhonest  or  dishonourable,  for  they  laugh  if  they  are  charged 
with  CBt&e-stealing,  and  assert  that  they  have  lifted  them 
only.  As  in  the  tribes  nearer  the  Coast  slave-trading  is  the 
gigantic  eyfl,  which  must  be  grappled  with,  if  any  good  is 
to  be  done ;  so  here  it  was  necessary  frequently,  yet  in  a 
kindly  way,  to  point  out  the  evils  of  marauding.  A  wagon 
with  Mr.  Helmore's  name  on  it  being  in  the  Chiefs  possession, 
a  doubt  was  expressed  whether  the  person  said  to  have  given 


300  A  MORAL  LESSON.  Chap.  XIV. 

it  had  any  power  to  dispose  of  the  property  of  the  orphan 
children ;  and  Sekeleta  was  told  that  should  Hr.  Hofiat,  in 
answer  to  a  letter,  say  that  the  donbt  had  weight,  the  wagon 
ought  to  be  paid  for  in  ivory :  this  the  Chief  readily  agreed 
to ;  and  had  it  been  possible  for  one  with  the  wisdom,  experi- 
ence, and  conciliating  manners  of  Hr.  Moffat  to  haye  yigited 
the  Makololo,  he  would  have  found  them  easily  influenced  to 
£edmess,  and  not  at  all  the  unreasonable  savages  they  were  re- 
presented to  be.  Unquestionably  a  great  amount  of  goodness 
exists  in  the  midst  of  all  their  evil ;  and  we  know  of  no  more 
desirable  field  for  an  active  and  sensible  missionary. 

In  trying  to  benefit  them  it  was  often  pointed  out  that 
the  necessary  consequence  of  these  lawless  forays,  sudi  as 
that  they  had  made  the  year  before  against  a  tribe  of  Damaras 
to  the  west,  was  to  produce  a  lawless  state  at  home.     They 
did  not  relish  the  idea  of  the  reflected  action  on  themselves, 
nor  did  they  like  being  plainly  told  that  those  who  shed  the 
blood  of  other  tribes,  and  then  returned  to  kill  eadi  other  at 
home  on  charges  of  witchcraft,  were  the  only  real  sorcerers ; 
that  murdering  the  children  of  the  same  Great  Father,  for  the 
sake  of  cattle  which  did  not  belong  to  them,  entailed  guilt 
in  His  sight ;  that  those  who  gave  no  peace  to  others  could 
hope  &om  the  Supreme  Ruler  for  none  among  themselves. 
It  all  seemed  reasonable  and  true ;  they  would  not  dispute  it; 
^  They  needed  the  Book  of  God.     But  ihe  hearts  of  black 
men  are  not  the  same  as  those  of  the  whites.    They  had  real 
sorcerers  among  them.     K  that  was  guilt  which  custom  led 
them  to  do,  it  lay  between  the  white  man  and  Jesus,  who  had 
not  given  them  the  Book,  nor  favoured  them  as  He  had  the 
whites."    None  ever  attempted  to  justify  the  shedding   of 
human  blood ;  but  some,  in  reference  to  cattle-lifting,  said, 
"  Why  should  these  Makalaka — "  a  term  of  contempt  for  all 
the  blacker  tribes — "  possess  cattle  if  they  cannot  fight  for 


Chap.  XIV.         DIVINE  SEKVICE  AT  SBSHEKE.  301 

them?"  Ma-Sekeletu  asserted  that  it  was  Moselekatse  who 
bad  made  the  Makololo  coyetous^  or  yellow-hearted,  pelut$etku 
He  had  taken  then:  cattle,  and  subsequent  hunger  had  made 
them  greedy  of  the  oxen  of  other  tribes.  She  being  the 
chiefs  moth^,  we  may  imagine  what  his  education  on  the 
maternal  side  has  been.  They  often  try  to  make  peace,  not- 
withstanding, amongst  themselyes.  Two  men  were  wrangling 
and  cursing  each  other  one  day,  when  Moikele,  a  Makololo 
man,  rose,  and,  to  preyeut  mischief,  quietly  took  their  spears 
from  the  corner  in  which  they  stood,  and  sitting  down  beside 
Dr.  Liyingstone  remarked,  "  It  is  the  nature  of  bulls  to  gore 
each  oHier.''  This  is  probably  the  idea  that  lies  at  the 
bottom  of  Muscular  Heathenism,  if  not  of  Muscular  Chris- 
tianity. 

On  the  last  occasion  of  our  holding  Diyine  seryice  at 
Sesheke,  the  men  were  inyited  to  conyerse  on  the  subject  on 
which  they  had  been  addressed.  So  many  of  them  had  died 
since  we  were  here  before,  that  not  much  probability  existed 
of  our  all  meeting  again,  and  this  had  naturally  led  to  the 
subject  of  a  future  state.  They  replied  that  they  did  not 
wish  to  offend  the  speaker,  but  they  could  not  belieye  that 
all  the  dead  would  rise  again :  '^  Can  those  who  haye  been 
killed  in  the  field  and  deyoured  by  the  yultures;  or  those 
who  haye  been  eaten  by  the  hyenas  or  lions ;  or  those  who 
have  been  tossed  into  the  riyer,  and  eaten  by  more  than 
one  cro(X)dile, — can  they  all  be  raised  again  to  life  ?  **  They 
were  told  that  men  could  take  a  leaden  bullet,  change  it 
into  a  salt  (acetate  of  lead),  which  could  be  dissolved  as 
completely  in  water,  as  our  bodies  in  the  stomachs  of  ani- 
mals, and  then  reconvert  it  into  lead;  or  that  the  bullet 
could  be  transformed  into  the  red  and  white  paint  of  our 
wagons,  and  again  be  reconverted  into  the  original  lead; 
and  that  if  men  exactly  like  themselves  could  do  so  much. 


302  CLEAR  REASONING.  Chap.  XIV. 

how  much  more  could  He  do^  who  had  made  the  eye  to 
see,  and  the  ear  to  hear  I  We  added,  howeyer,  that  we  be- 
lieved in  a  refiurrectiony  not  because  we  understood  how  it 
would  be  brought  about,  but  because  our  Heavenly  Father 
assured  us  of  it  in  His  Book.  The  reference  to  the  truth  of 
the  Book  and  its  Author  seems  always  to  have  more  influeDce 
on  the  native  mind  than  the  devemess  of  the  illustration. 
The  knowledge  of  the  people  is  scanty,  but  thdr  reasoning 
is  generally  clear  as  far  as  their  information  goes. 


i 


Chap.  XV.  LE8H0RE  AND  ms  MEN.  308 


CHAPTER   XV. 

Departure  from  Sesheke,  17th  of  September,  1860  — Gonyoyed  by  Pitaane  and 
LeBhore  —  Embassy  to  Binamane  —  Leshore  and  his  crew  —  Mobita  and  tlie 
canoe-men  —  Zambesi  fish,  Ngpiresi  and  Konokono  —  Fish-bone  medicine 

—  Renew  the  garden  at  Mosi-oa-tonya  —  Kalmnla  and  Moamba  Falls  — 
Native  desire  of  pleasing  —  Hospitality  of  the  Baioka  —  Native  fruits  — 
Valuable  oil-yielding  tree  —  Indian  trees  in  centre  of  Africa — Golongwe 

—  Great  heat  —  Corns  on  the  feet  not  peculiar  to  the  oivilized  —  River 
Longkwe  —  Gipsy  bellows  in  Africa  —  Tin  —  Chilombe  Islet  —  Native  dress 

—  Binamane  and  his  long  spears. 

We  left  Seeheke  on  the  I7th  September,  1860,  convoyed  by 
Pitsane  and  Leshore  with  their  men.  Fitsane  was  ordered 
by  Sekeletn  to  make  a  hedge  round  the  garden  at  the  Falls, 
to  protect  the  seeds  we  had  brought;  and  also  to  collect  some 
of  the  tobacco  tribute  below  the  Falls.  Leshore,  besides 
acting  as  a  sort  of  guard  of  honour  to  us,  was  sent  on  a 
diplomatic  mission  to  Sinamane.  No  tribute  was  exacted 
by  Sekeletu  from  Sinamane;  but,  as  he  had  sent  in  his 
adhesion,  he  was  expected  to  act  as  a  guard  in  case  of  the 
Hatebele  wishing  to  cross  and  attack  the  Makololo.  As  we 
intendefl  to  purchase  canoes  of  Sinamane  in  which  to  descend 
the  river,  Leshore  was  to  commend  us  to  whatever  help  this 
Batoka  chief  could  render.  It  must  be  confessed  that  Le- 
shore's  men,  who  were  all  of  the  black  subject  tribes,  really 
needed  to  be  viewed  by  us  in  the  most  charitable  light; 
for  Leshore,  on  entering  any  village,  called  out  to  the  in- 
habitants, '^Look  out  for  your  property,  and  see  that  my 
thieves  don't  steal  it" 

Two  young  Makololo  with  their  Batoka  servants  accom- 
panied us  to  see  if  Kebrabasa  could  be  surmounted,  and 
to  bring  a  supply  of  medicine  for  Sekeletu's  leprosy;  and 


304  MOBITA  AND  HIS  CANOE-MEN.  Chap.  XV. 

half  a  dozen  able  canoe-men,  tinder  Mobita,  who  had  pie- 
vionsly  gone  with  Dr.  LiTingstone  to  Loanda,  were  sent  to 
help  ns  in  onr  river  navigation.  Some  men  on  foot  drove 
six  oxen  which  Sekeleta  had  given  ns  as  provisions  for  the 
journey.  It  was,  as  before  remarked,  a  time  of  scarcity; 
and,  considering  the  dearth  of  food,  onr  treatment  had  been 
liberal. 

By  day  the  canoe-men  are  accustomed  to  keep  close  under 
the  river's  bank  from  fear  of  the  hippopotami ;  by  night, 
however,  they  keep  in  the  middle  of  the  stream,  as  then 
those  animals  are  usually  dose  to  the  bank  on  their  way  to 
their  grazing-grounds.  Our  progress  was  considerably  im- 
peded by  the  hifi:h  winds,  which  at  this  season  of  the  year 
Qn  aLt  eight  in  the  morning,  and  blow  strongl/up 
the  river  all  day.  The  canoes  were  poor  leaky  affidrs,  and 
so  low  in  parts  of  the  gunwale,  that  the  paddlers  were  afraid 
to  follow  the  channel  when  it  crossed  the  river,  lest  the 
waves  might  swamp  us.  A  rough  sea  is  dreaded  by  all 
these  inland  canoe-men ;  but,  though  timid,  they  are  by 
no  means  unskilfril  at  their  work.  The  ocean  rather  asto- 
nished them  afterwards;  and  also  the  admirable  way  that 
the  Nyassa  men  managed  their  canoes  on  a  rough  lake,  and 
even  amongst  the  breakers,  where  no  small  boat  could  pos- 
sibly liva 

On  the  night  of  the  17th  we  slept  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Majeele,  after  having  had  all  the  men  ferried  across.  An  ox 
was  slaughtered,  and  not  an  ounce  of  it  was  left  next  morning. 
Our  two  young  Makololo  companions,  Moloka  and  Eamaku- 
kane,  having  never  travelled  before,  naturally  clung  to  some 
of  the  luxuries  they  had  been  accustomed  to  at  home. 
When  they  lay  down  to  sleep,  their  servants  were  called  to 
spread  their  blankets  over  their  august  persons,  not  forgettinf; 
their  feet.    This  seems  to  be  the  duty  of  the  Makololo  wife 


Chap.  XV.  A  RAVENOUS  FISH.  305 

to  her  husband,  and  strangers  sometimes  receive  the  honour. 
One  of  our  party,  having  wandered,  slept  at  the  village  of 
Nambowe.  When  he  laid  down,  to  his  surprise  two  of  Nam- 
bowe's  wives  came  at  once,  and  carefully  and  kindly  spread 
his  kaross  over  him. 

A  beautiful  silvery  fish  with  reddish  fins,  called  Ngwesi,  is 
very  abundant  in  the  river;  large  ones  weigh  fifteen  or  twenty 
pounds  each.  Its  teeth  are  exposed,  and  so  arranged  that, 
when  they  meet,  the  edges  cut  a  hook  like  nippers.  The 
Ngwesi  seems  to  be  a  very  ravenous  fish.  It  often  gulps  down 
the  Konokono,  a  fish  armed  with  serrated  bones  more  than  an 
inch  in  length  in  the  pectoral  and  dorsal  fins,  which,  fitting 
into  a  notch  at  the  roots,  can  be  put  by  the  fish  on  full  cock  or 
straight  out^ — they  cannot  be  folded  down,  without  its  will, 
and  even  break  in  resisting.  The  name  "  Konokono,"  elbow- 
elbow,  is  given  it  from  a  resemblance  its  extended  fins  are 
supposed  to  bear  to  a  man's  elbows  stuck  out  from  his  body. 
It  often  performs  the  little  trick  of  cocking  its  fins  in  the 
stomach  of  the  Ngwesi,  and,  the  elbows  piercing  its  enemy's 
sides,  he  is  frequently  found  floating  dead.  The  fin  bones 
seem  to  have  an  acrid  secretion  on  them,  for  the  wound  they 
make  is  excessively  painfiil.  The  Konokono  barks  distinctly 
when  landed  with  the  hook.  Our  canoe-men  invariably 
picked  up  every  dead  fish  they  saw  on  the  surface  of  the 
water,  however  &x  gone.  An  unfragrant  odour  was  no 
objection;  the  fish  was  boiled  and  eaten,  and  the  water 
drunk  as  soup.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  many  of  the 
Africans  keep  fish  as  we  do  woodcocks,  until  they  are 
extremely  oflensive,  before  they  consider  them  fit  to  eat. 
Our  paddlers  informed  us  on  our  way  down  that  iguanas 
lay  their  eggs  in  July  and  August,  and  crocodiles  in  Septem- 
ber. The  eggs  remain  a  month  or  two  under  the  sand  where 
they  are  laid,  and  the  young  come  out  when  the  rains  have 

X 


306  FISH-BONE  MEDICINE.  Chap.  XV. 

fairly  commenced.  The  canoe-men  were  quite  positive  that 
crocodiles  frequently  stun  men  by  striking  them  with  their 
tails,  and  then  squat  on  them  till  they  are  drowned.  We 
once  caught  a  young  crocodile,  which  certainly  did  use  its  tail 
to  inflict  sharp  blows,  and  led  us  to  conclude  that  the  nati?e 
opinion  is  correct  They  believed  also  that,  if  a  person  shuts 
the  beast's  eyes,  it  lets  go  its  hold.  Crocodiles  have  been 
known  to  unite  and  kill  a  large  one  of  their  own  species  and 
eat  it*  Some  fishermen  throw  the  bones  of  the  fish  into 
the  river,  but  in  most  of  the  fishing  villages  there  are  heaps 
of  them  in  various  places.  The  villagers  can  walk  over  them 
without  getting  them  into  their  feet;  but  the  Makololo,  from 
having  softer  soles,  are  unable  to  do  so.  The  explanation 
ofiered  was,  that  the  fishermen  have  a  medicine  against 
fish-bones,  but  that  they  will  not  reveal  it  to  the  Makololo. 

We  spent  a  night  on  Mparira  island,  which  is  four  miles 
long  and  about  one  mile  broad.  Mokompa,  the  headman, 
was  away  hunting  elephants.  His  wife  sent  for  him  on  our 
arrival,  and  he  returned  next  morning  before  we  lefL  Taking 
advantage  of  the  long-continued  drought,  he  had  set  fire  to 
the  reeds  between  the  Chobe  and  Zambesi,  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  drive  the  game  out  at  one  comer,  where  his  men  laid 
in  wait  with  their  spears.  He  had  killed  five  elephants  and 
three  buffaloes,  wounding  several  others  which  escaped. 

On  our  land  party  coming  up,  we  were  told  that  the  oxen 
were  bitten  by  the  tsetse :  they  could  see  a  great  difference 


♦  A  greater  variety  of  fishes  are 
on  the  same  authority  found  above 
than  below  the  Falls.  Of  those  above 
they  name :  —  ^Ipofu— Mo— Nijiye— 
Ngwesi — ^Moshona —  Kembwe  —  Se^ 
Lobotu— Lobangwa —  Motome — Ne- 
mbele—Litore  — Leshnala  or  Ndombe 


Idkeya — Moshiba  —  Bimdo^  Seio — 
Minga — ^Lisinje. 

In  addition  to  these,  say  twenty 
fishes,  they  mention  Mombo,  caUed 
also  by  the  Bashubia  Hohumbwe, 
which  seems  to  be  a  kind  of  saw-fish, 
and  Likala,  or  fiala,  the  Lepidodrea 


—  Linyonga  —  Mpala  —  Jonmgo  —  |  in  the  Barotse  Valley. 


Chap.  XV.  GARDEN  AT  MOSMA-TUNYA.  307 

in  their  looks.    One  was  already  eaten,  and  they  now  wished  to 
slaughter  another.    A  third  fell  into  a  buffalo-pit  next  day, 
80  our  stock  was  soon  reduced.     A  man,  who  accomptuiied 
us  to  the  Falls,  was  a  great  admirer  of  the  ladies.    Every 
pretty  girl  he  saw  filled  his  heart  with  rapture.     "  Oh,  what 
a  beauty !  never  saw  her  like  before ;  I  wonder  if  she  is 
married  ?"  and  earnestly  and  lovingly  did  he  gaze  after  the 
charming  one  till  she  had  passed  out  of  sight.    He  had  four 
wives  at  home,  and  hoped  to  have  a  number  more  before 
long,  but  he  had  only  one  child ;  this  Mormonism  does  not 
seem  to  satisfy ;  it  leads  to  a  state  of  mind  which,  if  not 
disease,  is  truly  contemptible.     The  Batoka  Chief,  Moshobot- 
wane,  again  treated  us  with  his  usual  hospitality,  giving  us 
an  ox,  some  meal,  and  milk.    We  took  another  view  of  the 
grand  Mosi-oa-tunya,  and  planted  a  quantity  of  seeds  in  the 
garden  on  the  island ;  but,  as  no  one  will  renew  the  hedge, 
the  hippopotami  will,  doubtless,  soon  destroy  what  we  planted. 
Mashotlane  assisted  us.    So  much  power  was  allowed  to  this 
under-chief,  that  he  appeared  as  if  he  had  cast  off  the 
authority  of  Sekeletu  altogether.    He  did  not  show  much 
courtesy  to  his  messengers ;  instead  of  giving  them  food,  as 
is  customary,  he  took  the  meat  out  of  a  pot  in  their  presence, 
and  handed  it  to  his  own  followers.     This  may  have  been 
because  Sekeletu's  men  bore  an  order  to  him  to  remove  to 
LinyantL    He  had  not  only  insulted  Baldwin,  but  had  also 
driven  away  the  Griqua  traders;  but  this  may  all  end  in 
nothing.    Some  of  the  natives  here,  and  at  Sesheke,  know 
a  few  of   the  low  tricks  of   more  civilized  traders.    A  pot 
of  milk  was  brought  to  us  one  evening,  which  was  more 
indebted  to  the  Zambesi  than  to  any  cow.     Baskets  of  fine- 
looking  white  meal,  elsewhere,  had  occasionally  the  lower  half 
filled  with  bran.     Eggs  are  always  a  perilous  investment. 
The  native  idea  of  a  good  egg  differs  as  widely  from  our  ovm 

X  2 


308  KALUNDA  AND  MOAMBA  FALLS.  Chap.  XV. 

as  is  possible  od  such  a  trifling  subject    Ad  egg  is  eaten  here 
with  apparent  relish^  though  an  embryo  chick  be  inside. 

We  left  Mosi-oa-tunya  on  the  27th,  and  slept  close  to  the 
Tillage  of  Bakwini*  It  is  built  on  a  ridge  of  loose  red  soil, 
which  produces  great  crops  of  mapira  and  groxmd-nuts ;  many 
magnificent  mosibe-trees  stand  near  the  village.  Machimisi, 
the  headman  of  the  village,  possesses  a  herd  of  cattle  and  a 
large  heart;  he  kept  us  company  for  a  couple  of  days  to  guide 
us  on  our  way. 

We  had  heard  a  good  deal  of  a  stronghold  some  miles 
below  the  Falls,  called  Ealunda.  Our  return  path  was 
much  nearer  the  Zambesi  than  that  of  our  ascent, — ^in  &ct, 
as  near  as  the  rough  country  would  allow, — ^but  we  left  it 
twice  before  we  reached  Sinamane's,  in  order  to  see  Kalunda 
and  a  Fall  called  Moomba,  or  Moamba.  The  Makololo  had 
once  dispossessed  the  Batoka  of  Kalunda,  but  we  could  not 
see  the  fissure,  or  whatever  it  is,  that  rendered  it  a  place 
of  security,  as  it  was  on  the  southern  bank.  The  crack  of  the 
Great  Falls  was  here  continued :  the  rocks  are  the  same  as 
further  up,  but  perhaps  less  weather-worn — and  now  partially 
stratified  in  great  thick  masses.  The  country  through  which 
we  were  travelling  was  covered  with  a  cindery-looking 
volcanic  tufa,  and  might  be  called  **  Katakaumena.*' 

The  description  we  received  of  the  Moamba  Falls  seemed 
to  promise  something  grand.  They  were  said  to  send  up 
"  smoke "  in  the  wet  season,  like  Mosi-oa^tunya ;  but  when 
we  looked  down  into  the  cleft,  in  which  the  dark-green 
narrow  river  still  roUs,  we  saw,  about  800  or  1000  feet 
below  us,  what,  after  Mosi-oa-tunya,  seemed  two  insigni- 
ficant cataracts.  It  was  evident,  that  Pitsane,  observing  our 
delight  at  the  Victoria  Falls,  wished  to  increase  our  pleasure 
by  a  second  wonder.  One  Mosi-oa-tunya,  however,  is  quite 
enough  for  a  continent. 


Chap.  XV.  NATIVE  DESIRE  TO  PLEASE.  309 

The  natives  of  Africa  have  an  amiable  desire  to  please,  and 
often  tell  what  they  imagine  will  be  gratifying,  rather  than 
the  uninteresting  naked  truth.  Let  a  native  from  the 
interior  be  questioned  by  a  thirsty  geographer,  whether  the 
mountains  round  his  youthful  home  are  high ;  from  a  dim 
recollection  of  something  of  the  sort,  combined  with  a  desire 
to  please,  the  answer  will  be  in  the  aflBrmative.  And  so  it 
will  be  if  the  subject  of  inquiry  be  gold  or  unicorns,  or  men 
with  tails.  English  sportsmen,  though  first-rate  shots  at 
home,  are  notorious  for  the  number  of  their  misses  on  first 
trying  to  shoot  in  Africa.  Everything  is  on  such  a  large 
scale,  and  there  is  such  a  glare  of  bright  sunlight,  that  some 
time  is  required  to  enable  them  to  judge  of  distances.  "  Is 
it  woimded  ? "  inquired  a  gentleman,  of  his  dark  attendant, 
after  firing  at  an  antelope,  ^^Yes!  the  bcdl  went  right 
into  his  heart**  These  mortal  wounds  never  proving 
fatal,  he  asked  a  friend,  who  understood  the  language,  to 
explain  to  the  man,  that  he  preferred  the  truth  in  every 
case.  "  He  is  my  father,**  replied  the  native,  "  and  I  thought 
he  would  be  displeased  if  I  told  him  that  he  never  hits  at  all.'* 
But  great  as  this  failing  is  among  the  free,  it  is  much  more 
annoying  among  the  slaves.  One  can  scarcely  induce  a 
slave  to  translate  anything  truly:  he  is  so  intent  on 
thinking  of  what  will  please.  By  far  the  greatest  wonder 
of  Captain  Speke  and  Grant's  journey  was,  that  they  accom- 
plished it  with  slaves. 

We  had  now  an  opportunity  of  seeing  more  of  the  Batoka, 
than  we  had  on  the  highland  route  to  our  north.  They  did 
not  wait  till  the  evening  before  offering  food  to  the  strangers. 
The  aged  wife  of  the  headman  of  a  hamlet,  where  we  rested 
at  midday,  at  once  kindled  a  fire,  and  put  on  the  cooking- 
pot  to  make  porridge.  Both  men  and  women  are  to  be 
distinguished  by  greater  roundness  of  feature  than  the  other 


310  COLOUR  NOT  A  MATTER  OF  RACE.        Chap.  XV, 

natiyes^  add  the  custom  of  knocking  out  the  upper  front 
teeth  gives  at  once  a  distinctive  chetracter  to  the  face.  Their 
colour  attests  the  greater  altitude  of  the  country  in  which 
many  of  them  formerly  lived.  Some,  however,  are  as  dark 
as  the  Bashubia  and  Barotse  of  the  great  valley  to  their  west, 
in  which  stands  Sesheke,  formerly  the  capital  of  the  Balui,  or 
Bashubia. 

The  assertion  may  seem  strange,  yet  it  is  none  the  leas 
true,  that  in  all  the  tribes  we  have  visited  we  never  saw  a 
really  black  person.  DijSerent  shades  of  brown  prevail,  and 
often  with  a  bright  bronze  tint,  which  no  painter,  except  Mr. 
Angus,  seems  able  to  catch.  Those  who  inhabit  elevated, 
dry  situations,  and  who  are  not  obliged  to  work  much  in 
the  sun,  are  frequently  of  a  light  warm  brown,  '^dark  but 
comely."  Darkness  of  colour  is  probably  parfly  caused  by 
the  sun,  and  partly  by  something  in  the  climate  or  soil  which 
we  do  not  yet  know.  We  see  something  of  the  same  sort 
in  trout  and  other  fish  which  take  their  colour  from  the 
ponds  or  streams  in  which  they  live.  The  members  of  our 
party  were  much  less  embrowned  by  free  exposure  to  the  sun 
for  years  than  Dr.  Livingstone  and  his  family  were  by  passing 
once  from  Kuruman  to  Cape  Town,  a  journey  which  occupied 
only  a  couple  of  months. 

What  the  peculiarity  of  climate  is,  which  favours  the 
deposition  of  colouring  matter  in  the  skin  and  hair,  is  yet 
unknown;  but,  in  some  cases  observed,  colour  was  not  a 
matter  of  race,  for,  after  long  residence  in  a  hot  country,  a 
wound  or  boil  heals  much  darker  than  the  rest  of  the  body. 
The  hair  of  the  Africans,  microscopists  inform  us,  is  not  really 
wool,  but  a  growth  of  identically  the  same  nature  as  our  own, 
only  with  a  greater  amount  of  the  pigment  deposited.  It  is 
not  at  all  unusual  to  meet  Europeans  with  hair  darker  than 
the  African;  and  with  Africans,  whose  hair  has  a  distinct 


Chap.  XV.  WANT  OF  THE  SABBATH.  311 

reddish  tinge,  and  who  have  the  same  nervo-sanguineous 
temperament  as  the  Xanthous  yarieties  of  other  races. 

But  few  good-looking  women  appear  in  the  first  Batoka 
villages;  because  the  Makololo  marry  all  the  pretty  girls.  In 
one  village  we  saw  on  a  pole  the  head  of  a  crocodile.  It 
had  entered  by  night  the  enclosure  constructed  to  protect 
the  women  when  drawing  water,  and  caught  one  of  them :  the 
men  rushed  to  the  rescue,  killed  the  monster,  and  stuck  his 
head  on  a  pole,  as  they  were  wont  to  do  the  heads  of  human 
crimimds  and  of  strangers. 

A  strong  clannish  feeling  exists  among  the  Batoka,  as 
among  all  the  other  tribes.  In  travelling,  those  belonging  to 
one  tribe  always  keep  by  themselves,  and  help  one  another. 
The  Batoka,  like  the  Bushmen,  excel  in  following  the  track  of  a 
wounded  animal ;  it  is  part  of  their  education.  They  are  also 
good  climbers,  from  being  accustomed  to  collect  wild  fruits. 

We  passed  over  a  rugged  country,  with  many  hills  and 
perennial  streams,  of  which  the  Sindi  was  the  finest  for  irriga- 
tion. On  returning  from  Moamba  to  the  Sindi  we  found  our 
luggage  had  gone  on,  and,  as  the  chronometer  was  with  it, 
we  had  to  follow  it  up  on  Sunday ;  we  all  felt  sorely  the 
want  of  the  Sabbath  through  the  following  week.  Apart 
from  any  Divine  command,  a  periodical  day  of  repose  is 
absolutely  necessary  for  the  human  frame. 

We  encamped  on  the  Kalomo,  on  the  1st  of  October,  and 
found  the  weather  very  much  warmer  than  when  we  crossed 
this  stream  in  August  At  3  p.m.,  the  thermometer,  four 
feet  from  the  ground,  was  101®  in  the  shade ;  the  wet  bulb 
only  6P:  a  difference  of  40°.  Yet,  notwithstanding  this 
extreme  dryness  of  the  atmosphere,  without  a  drop  of  rain 
having  fallen  for  months,  and  scarcely  any  dew,  many  of  the 
shrubs  and  trees  were  putting  forth  fresh  leaves  of  various 
hues,  while  others  made  a  profuse  display  of  lovely  blossoms. 


312  TWO  BUFFALOES  SHOT.  Chap.  XV. 

Near  the  sites  of  ruined  Batoka  villages  are  always  seen  the 
Mochenje  Milo,  Boma,  Mosibe,  Motsinteela,  and  several  other 
kinds  of  native  fruits ;  Dr.  Eirk  found  the  Mamosho-mosho, 
and  Milo  to  be  Cinchonaceous  trees.  The  Mosibe  he  con- 
sidered identical  with  capcdfera  hymencefdia  of  Cuba,  a  tree 
of  which  but  little  is  yet  known.  As  this  tree  is  absent  from 
the  eastern  and  western  slopes  of  the  continent  of  Africa^  and 
not  met  with  on  the  East  Coast,  our  finding  it  in  this  remote 
part,  with  other  trees  showing  a  relationship  to  India,  is  very 
interesting,  as  indicating  that  much  is  unknown  in  the  migra- 
tions of  plants.  The  Boma  is  a  Yitex  nearly  allied  to  a  Mada- 
gascar tree.  It  yields  a  very  valuable  oil-nut,  and  giO¥rs 
abundantly  at  Lake  Nyassa,  as  well  as  in  these  quarters. 
The  Mamosho-mosho  is  the  best  fruit  in  the  country,  but  we, 
being  glad  of  any  fruit,  are  imable  to  say  whether  Europeans 
in  general  would  esteem  it  as  highly  as  the  natives  da 
The  edible  part  of  uncultivated  fruits  is  usually  very  smalL 
One  of  our  men  speared  a  conger  eel,  four  feet  seven  inches 
in  length,  and  ten-and-arhalf  inches  round  the  neck;  it  is 
here  called  Mokonga. 

Two  old  and  very  savage  buffaloes  were  shot  for  our 
companions  on  the  3rd  October.  Our  Volunteers  may  feel 
an  interest  in  knowing  that  balls  sometimes  have  but  little 
effect:  one  buffalo  fell,  on  receiving  a  Jacob's  shell;  it  was 
hit  again  twice,  and  lost  a  large  amount  of  blood ;  and  yet 
it  sprang  up,  and  charged  a  native,  who,  by  great  agility, 
had  just  time  to  climb  a  tree,  before  the  maddened  beast 
struck  it,  battering-ram  fashion,  hard  enough  almost  to  have 
split  both  head  and  tree.  It  paused  a  few  seconds — drew 
back  several  paces — glared  up  at  the  man — and  then  dashed 
at  the  tree  again  and  again,  as  if  determined  to  shake  him 
out  of  it.  It  took  two  more  Jacob's  shells,  and  five  other 
large  solid  rifle-balls  to  finish  the  beast  at  last.    These  old 


CnAP.  XV.  THE  RIVER  LONGKWK  313 

snrly  buffaloes  had  been  wandering  about  in  a  sort  of  miser- 
able fellowship;  their  skins  were  diseased  and  scabby,  as 
if  leprous,  and  their  horns  atrophied  or  worn  down  to 
stumps — the  first  was  killed  outright,  by  one  Jacob's  shell, 
the  second  died  hard.  There  is  so  much  difference  in  the 
tenacity  of  life  in  wounded  animals  of  the  same  spedes, 
that  the  inquiry  is  suggested  where  the  seat  of  life  can  be? 
We  have  seen  a  buffalo  live  long  enough,  after  a  large  bullet 
had  passed  right  through  the  heart,  to  allow  firm  adherent 
clots  to  be  formed  in  the  two  holes. 

One  day's  journey  above  Sinamane's,  a  mass  of  mountain 
caUed  Gorongue,  or  Grolongwe,  is  said  to  cross  the  river,  and 
the  rent  through  which  the  river  passes  is,  by  native  report, 
quite  fearful  to  behold.  The  country  round  it  is  so  rocky, 
that  our  companions  dreaded  the  fatigue  and  were  not  much 
to  blame,  if,  as  is  probably  the  case,  the  way  be  worse  than 
that  over  which  we  travelled.  As  we  trudged  along  over 
the  black  slag-like  rocks,  the  almost  leafless  trees  afford- 
ing no  shade,  the  heat  was  quite  as  great  as  Europeans 
could  bear.  It  was  102^  in  the  shade,  and  a  thermometer 
placed  under  the  tongue  or  aimpit  showed  that  our  blood 
was  99*5°  or  1-5°  hotter  than  that  of  the  natives,  which 
stood  at  98^.  Our  shoes,  however,  enable  us  to  pass  over 
the  hot  burning  soil  better  than  they  can.  Many  of  those 
who  wear  sandals  have  corns  on  the  sides  of  the  feet,  and 
on  the  heels,  where  the  straps  pass.  We  have  seen  in- 
stances, too,  where  neither  sandals  nor  shoes  were  worn,  of 
corns  on  the  soles  of  the  feet.  It  is,  moreover,  not  at  aU 
uncommon  to  see  toes  cocked  up,  as  if  pressed  out  of  their 
proper  places;  at  home,  we  should  have  unhesitatingly  as- 
cribed this  to  the  vicious  fashions  perversely  followed  by  our 
shoemakers. 

The  Longkwe,  or,  as  the  Makololo  call  it,  the  river  of  Quai, 


314  BLACKSMITH'S  BELLOWS.  Chap.  XV. 

or  tobacco,  comes  in  from  the  coimtiy  of  Moselekatse,  or 
from  the  soatb-east,  and  joins  tlie  Zambesi  above  Golongwe. 
Thia  fact  may  corroborate  what  is  said  by  Mr.  Thomas, 
that  all  the  rivers  rising  on  the  oue  side  of  Moselekatse's 
coimtry  nm  easterly,  and  into  the  Shashe,  to  join  the  Lim- 
popo, while  all  the  others  run  westerly,  and  then  northerly, 
to  the  Zambesi.  Golongwa  was  probably  tiie  dam  which, 
before  the  rent  was  made,  converted  the  whole  LiDyanti 
Valley  into  a  lake  ;  but  we  could  not,  on  the  path  we  came, 
obsorve  any  difTerence  of  level  by  the  barometer.  From  the 
Falls  to  Sinamane's  the  country  sloped,  and  was  all  lower 
than  Sesheke ;  still  a  considerable  difference  of  level  most 
have  taken  place  since  the  deep  undisturbed  mass  of  soft 
tufa  was  deposited  on  the  great  flats  of  Sesheke  and  Lin- 
yanti.  The  courses  of  the  rivers  in  the  country  of  Uoee- 
lekatae,  and  on  the  Batoka  highlands,  west  of  the  Ealomo, 
show  that,  in  reference  to  the  countries  east  of  it,  the  great 
Makololo  Valley  is  still  a  hollow. 
On  the  5th,  after  crossing  some  bills,  we  rested  at  the 


BeUowi  uxl  othe-  Tools. 

village  of  Simariango.    The  bellows  of  the  blacksmith  here 


Chap.  XV.  TIN  —  CHILOMBE  ISLET.  315 

were  somewhat  different  from  the  common  goatskin  bags, 
and  more  like  those  seen  in  Madagascar.  They  consisted  of 
two  wooden  vessels,  like  a  lady's  bandbox  of  small  dimen- 
sions, the  upper  ends  of  which  were  coyered  with  leather, 
and  looked  something  like  the  heads  of  drums,  except  that 
the  leather  bagged  in  the  centre.  They  were  fitted  with 
long  nozzles,  through  which  the  air  was  driven  by  working 
the  loose  covering  of  the  tops  up  and  down  by  means  of  a 
small  piece  of  wood  attached  to  their  centres.  The  black- 
smith said  that  tin  was  obtained  from  a  people  in  the  north, 
called  Marendi,  and  that  he  had  made  it  into  bracelets ;  we 
had  never  heard  before  of  tin  being  found  in  the  country. 

Our  course  then  lay  down  the  bed  of  a  rivulet,  called  Mapa- 
tizia,  in  which  there  was  much  calc  spar,  with  calcareous 
schist^  and  then  the  Tette  grey  sandstone,  which  usually 
overlies  coaL  On  the  6th  we  arrived  at  the  islet  Chilombe, 
belonging  to  Sinamane,  where  the  Zambesi  runs  broad  and 
smooth  again,  and  were  well  received  by  Sinamane  himself. 
Never  was  Sunday  more  welcome  to  the  weary  than  this, 
the  last  we  were  to  spend  with  our  convoy. 

Sinamane  is  an  active-looking  man  of  a  light  complexion, 
and  is  the  ablest  and  most  energetic  of  the  Batoka  chiefs  we 
have  met  He  was  independent  until  lately,  when  he  sent 
in  his  adhesion  to  Unyanti;  and,  as  all  that  Sekeletu  asks  of 
him  is  not  to  furnish  the  Matebele  with  canoes  when  they 
wish  to  cross  the  Zambesi  to  attack  the  Makololo,  he  will 
probably  continue  loyal.  Leshore's  mission,  as  we  have  said, 
was  to  ratify  this  vassal-ship,  to  request  Sinamane  to  furnish 
us  with  what  canoes  he  could,  and  to  assure  him  that  Mosho- 
botwane  had  not  received,  and  never  would  receive,  authority 
from  Sekeletu  to  go  on  forays  among  his  countrymen.  This 
message  was  communicated  also  to  the  offending  Batoka  at 
the  Falls,  with  whom  it  would  have  a  good  effect.     We 


316  NATIVE  DRESS.  Chap.  XV. 

now  saw  many  good-looking  yoimg  men  and  women.  The 
dresses  of  the  ladies  are  identical  with  those  of  Nubian 
women  in  Upper  Egypt.  To  a  belt  on  the  waist  a  great 
number  of  strings   are   attached   to   hang    all   round  the 

person.  These  fringes  are  about  six 
or  eight  inches  long.  The  matrons 
wear  in  addition  a  skin  cut  like  the 

• 

tails  of  the  coatee  formerly  worn  by 
our    dragoons.      The    younger    giris 
wear  the  waist-belt  exhibited  in  the 
waiBt-bdt  woodcut,  ornamented  with  shells,  and 

have  the  fringes  only  in  front.  Marauding  parties  of  Batoka, 
calling  themselves  Makololo,  have  for  some  time  had  a 
wholesome  dread  of  Sinamane's  "long  spears."  Before 
going  to  Tette  our  Batoka  friend,  Masakasa,  was  one  of 
a  party  that  came  to  steal  some  of  the  young  women ;  but 
Sinamane,  to  their  utter  astonishment,  attacked  them  so 
furiously  that  the  survivors  barely  escaped  with  their  liv^. 
Masakasa  had  to  flee  so  &st  that  he  threw  away  his  shield, 
his  spear,  and  his  clothes,  and  returned  home  a  wiser  and  a 
sadder  man. 


Chap.  XVI.  SINAMANE'S  PEOPLE.  317 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

Sinomane  —  Canoe  nayigation  —  Moemba  —  Water-drawing  stockades  —  Gene- 
Todty  of  the  Batoka — Pnrchase  of  a  canoe  —  Ant-liona  —  Herd  of  Hippo- 
potami —  Cataract  doctor  of  Kariba  —  Albinos,  human  and  hippopotamic  — 
Meet  Seqnaaha,  not  qnite  so  black  as  painted  —  Native  mode  of  salutation 
—  Karivna  —  Gallant  conduct  of  the  Makololo  —  Breakfast  inteirupted  by 
Mambo  Eazai —  Dinner  spoilt  by  pretended  aid  —  Banyai —  Rapids  of  Ke- 
brobesa — Dr.  Kirk  in  danger — Sad  loss  of  MSS.,  &c.  —  Death  of  one  of 
our  donkeys — Amiable  squeamiahness  of  Makololo  —  Dinner  h  la  Plunzo  — 
Beach  Tette  23rd  Nov.  —  **  Jacks  of  all  trades  " — Imposition  practised  on 
the  King  of  Portugal's  Colonial  scheme. 

Sikamane's  people  cultivate  large  quantities  of  tobacco, 
which  they  manufacture  into  balls  for  the  Makololo  market. 
Twenty  balls,  weighing  about  three-quarters  of  a  pound  each, 
are  sold  for  a  hoe.  The  tobacco  is  planted  on  low  moist 
spots  on  the  banks  of  the  Zambesi ;  and  was  in  flower  at 
the  time  we  were  there,  in  October.  Sinamane's  people  ap- 
pear to  have  abundance  of  food,  and  are  all  in  good  condi- 
tion. He  could  sell  us  only  two  of  his  canoes ;  but  lent  us 
three  more  to  carry  us  as  far  as  Moemba's,  where  he  thought 
others  might  be  purchased.  They  were  manned  by  his  own 
canoe-men,  who  were  to  bring  them  back.  The  river  is 
about  250  yards  wide,  and  flows  serenely  between  high 
banks  towards  the  North -East  Below  Sinamane's  the 
banks  are  often  worn  down  fifty  feet,  and  composed  of 
shingle  and  gravel  of  igneous  rocks,  sometimes  set  in  a 
ferruginous  matrix.  The  bottom  is  all  gravel  and  shingle, 
how  formed  we  cannot  imagine,  unless  in  pot-holes  in  the 
deep  fissure  above.  The  bottom  above  the  Falls,  save  a 
few  rocks  close  by  them,  is  generally  sandy  or  of  soft  tufa. 
Every  damp  spot  is  covered  with  maize,  pumpkins,  water- 


318  SINAMANE'S  CANOES.  Chap.  XVL 

melons^  tobacco,  and  hemp.  There  is  a  pretty  numerous 
Batoka  population  on  both  sides  of  the  river.  As  we  sailed 
slowly  down,  the  people  saluted  us  from  the  banks,  by 
clapping  their  hands.  A  headman  even  hailed  us,  and 
brought  a  generous  present  of  com  and  pumpkins. 

Moemba  owns  a  rich  island,  called  Mosanga,  a  mile  in 
length,  on  which  his  village  stands.  He  has  the  reputation  of 
being  a  brave  warrior,  and  is  certainly  a  great  talker ;  but  he 
gave  us  strangers  something  better  than  a  stream  of  words. 
We  received  a  handsome  present  of  com,  and  the  fattest  goat 
we  had  ever  seen ;  it  resembled  mutton.  His  people  were 
as  liberal  as  their  Chief.  They  brought  two  large  baskets  of 
com,  and  a  lot  of  tobacco,  as  a  sort  of  general  contribution  to 
the,  travellers.  One  of  Sinamane's  canoe-men,  after  trying 
to  get  his  pay,  deserted  here,  and  went  back  before  the  stipu- 
lated time,  with  the  story,  that  the  Englishmen  had  stolen 
the  canoes.  Shortly  after  sunrise  next  morning,  Sinamane 
came  into  the  village  with  fifty  of  his  "  long  spears,"  evi- 
dently determined  to  retake  his  property  by  force ;  he  saw 
at  a  glance  that  his  man  had  deceived  him.  Moemba  rallied 
him  for  coming  on  a  wildgoose  chase.  "  Here  are  your 
canoes  left  with  me,  your  men  have  all  been  paid,  and  the 
Englishmen  are  now  asking  me  to  sell  my  canoes."  Sina- 
mane said  little  to  us;  only  observing  that  he  had  been 
deceived  by  his  follower.  A  single  remark  of  his  Chief's 
caused  the  foolish  fellow  to  leave  suddenly,  evidently  much 
frightened  and  crestfallen.  Sinamane  had  been  very  kind  to 
us,  and,  as  he  was  looking  on  when  we  gave  our  present 
to  Moemba,  we  made  him  also  an  additional  offering  (^ 
some  beads,  and  parted  good  friend&  Moemba,  having 
heard  that  we  had  called  the  people  of  Sinamane  together 
to  tell  them  about  our  Saviour's  mission  to  man,  and  to  pray 
with  them,  associated  the  idea  of  Sunday  with  the  meeting, 


Chap.  XVI.  PAIK  DEALING  OF  MOEMBA.  319 

and,  before  anything  of  the  sort  was  proposed,  came  and 
asked  that  he  and  his  people  might  be  ^  sundayed "  as  well 
as  his  neighbours;  and  be  given  a  little  seed  wheat,  and 
fruit-tree  seeds ;  with  which  request  of  course  we  very  will- 
ingly complied.  The  idea  of  praying  direct  to  the  Supreme 
Being,  though  not  quite  new  to  all,  seems  to  strike  their 
minds  so  forcibly  that  it  will  not  be  forgotten.  Sinamane 
said  that  he  prayed  to  Grod,  Morungo,  and  made  drink-offer- 
ings to  him.  Though  he  had  heard  of  us,  he  had  never  seen 
white  men  before. 

When  bargauiing  with  Moemba  for  canoes,  we  were  grati- 
fied to  observe,  that  he  wished  to  deal  fairly  and  honour- 
ably with  us.  "  Our  price  was  large ;  but  he  had  only  two 
spare  canoes.  One  was  good, — ^he  would  sell  that ;  the  other 
he  would  not  sell  us,  because  it  had  a  bad  trick  of  capsizing, 
and  spilling  whatever  was  inside  it  into  the  river ;  he  would 
lend  us  his  own  two  large  ones,  until  we  could  buy  others 
below.*'  The  best  canoes  are  made  from  a  large  species  of 
thorny  acacisu  These  trees  were  now  in  seed ;  and  some  of 
the  natives  boiled  the  pods  in  water,  and  mixed  the  decoc- 
tion with  their  beer,  to  increase  its  intoxicating  qualities. 
In  times  of  great  hunger  the  beans  too  are  eaten,  though 
very  astringent. 

We  touched  at  Makonde's  village  to  buy  a  canoe.  They 
were  having  a  gay  time,  singing,  dancing,  and  drinking  their 
beer  extra  strong.  A  large  potful  was  at  once  brought  to 
us.  The  Chief  spoke  but  little ;  his  orator  did  the  talking 
and  trading  for  him,  and  seemed  anxious  to  show  him  how 
cleverly  he  could  do  both.  Many  tiny  stockades  stand  on 
the  edge  of  the  river;  they  are  built  there  to  protect  the 
women  from  the  crocodiles,  while  filling  their  waterpots. 
This  is  in  advance  of  the  Portuguese ;  for,  although  many 
women  are  annually  carried  off  by  crocodiles  at  Senna  and 


320  THE  BATOKA'S  GENEROSITY.  Chap.  XVL 

Tette,  60  little  are  the  lives  of  these  poor  drawers  of  water 
valued  by  the  masters,  that  they  never  think  of  erecting 
even  a  simple  fence  for  their  protection.  Dr.  livingstcxie 
tried  to  induce  the  padre  of  Senna  to  move  in  this  matter, 
offering  to  give  twenty  dollars  himself,  if  a  collection  should 
be  made  after  mass ;  but  the  padre  merely  smfled,  shrugged 
his  shoulders,  and  did  nothing. 

Beautiful  crowned  cranes,  named  from  their  note  'mo- 
ijocmg^  were  seen  daily,  and  were  beginning  to  pair.  Large 
flocks  of  spur -winged  geese,  or  machikwe,  were  common. 
This  goose  is  said  to  lay  her  eggs  in  March.  We  saw  also 
pairs  of  Egyptian  geese,  as  well  as  a  few  of  the  knob-nosed,  or, 
as  they  are  called  in  India,  combed  geese.  When  the  Egyptian 
geese,  as  at  the  present  time,  have  young,  the  goslings  keep 
so  steadily  in  the  wake  of  their  mother,  that  they  look  as  if 
they  were  a  part  of  her  tail;  and  both  parents,  when  on  land, 
simulate  lameness  quite  as  well  as  our  plovers,  to  draw  off 
pursuers.  The  ostrich  also  adopts  the  lapwing  fashion,  but 
no  quadrupeds  do:  they  show  fight  to  defend  their  young 
instead.  In  some  places  the  steep  banks  were  dotted  with 
the  holes  which  lead  into  the  nests  of  bee-eaters.  These 
birds  came  out  in  hundreds  as  we  passed.  When  the  red- 
breasted  species  settle  on  the  trees,  they  give  them  the 
appearance  of  being  covered  with  red  foliage. 

Our  land  party  came  up  to  us  on  the  evening  of  the  11th, 
a  number  of  men  kindly  carrying  their  bundles  for  them. 
They  had  received  valuable  presents  of  food  on  the  way. 
One  had  been  given  a  goat,  another  fowls  and  maize. 
They  began  to  believe  that  these  Batoka  "have  hearts," 
though  at  first,  as  those  who  inflict  an  injury  usually  are, 
they  were  suspicious,  and  blamed  them  for  hating  the  Mako- 
lolo  and  killing  every  one  they  met.  Marauding  parties  of 
Makololo  and  subject  Batoka  had  formerly  made  swoops  on 


Chap.  XVI.  WILD,  HILLY  COUNTUY.  321 

these  very  Tillages.  A  few  mornings  since,  Moloka  appeared 
in  great  grief  and  fear :  his  servant  Banyeu  had  disappeared 
the  day  before,  and  he  was  sure  that  the  Batoka  had  caught 
and  killed  him.  A  few  minutes  after,  this  Banyeu  arrived, 
with  two  men  who  had  found  him  wandering  after  sunset, 
had  given  him  supper  and  lodging,  and,  carrying  his  load 
for  him,  had  brought  him  on  to  us. 

On  the  morning  of  the  12th  October  we  passed  through  a 
wild,  hilly  coimtry,  with  fine  wooded  scenery  on  both  sides, 
but  thinly  inhabited.  The  largest  trees  were  usually  thorny 
acacias,  of  great  size  and  beautiful  forms.  As  we  sailed 
by  several  villages  without  touching,  the  people  became 
alarmed,  and  ran  along  the  banks,  spears  in  hand.  We 
employed  one  to  go  forward  and  tell  Mpande  of  our  coming. 
This  allayed  their  fears,  and  we  went  ashore,  and  took  break- 
fast near  the  large  island  with  two  villages  on  it,  opposite 
the  mouth  of  the  Zungwe,  where  we  had  left  the  Zambesi  on 
our  way  up.  Mpande  was  sorry  that  he  had  no  canoes  of  his 
own  to  sell,  but  he  would  lend  us  two.  He  gave  us  cooked 
pumpkins  and  a  water-melon.  His  servant  had  lateral  cur- 
vature of  the  spine.  We  have  often  seen  cases  of  humpback, 
but  this  was  the  only  case  of  this  kind  of  cmrature  we  had 
met  with.  Mpande  accompanied  us  himself  in  his  own  vessel, 
till  we  had  an  opportunity  of  purchasing  a  fine  large  canoe 
elsewhere.  We  paid  what  was  considered  a  large  price  for  it : 
twelve  strings  of  blue  cut  glass  neck-beads,  an  equal  number 
of  large  blue  ones  of  the  size  of  marbles,  and  two  yards  of 
grey  calico.  Had  the  beads  been  coarser,  they  would  have 
been  more  valued,  because  such  were  in  fashion.  Before 
concluding  the  bargain  the  owner  said  *'  his  bowels  yearned 
for  his  canoe,  and  we  must  give  a  little  more  to  stop  their 
yearning."  This  was  irresistible.  The  trading  party  of 
Sequasha,  which  we  now  met,   had  purchased   ten  large 

Y 


322  ANT-LIONS.  Chap.  XVI. 

new  canoes  for  six  strings  of  cheap  coarse  white  beads 
each^  or  their  equivalent,  four  yards  of  calico,  and  had 
bought  for  the  merest  trifle  ivory  enough  to  load  them  alL 
They  were  driving  a  trade  in  slaves  also,  which  was  some- 
thing new  in  this  part  of  Africa,  and  likely  soon  to  change 
the  character  of  the  inhabitants.  These  men  had  been  living 
in  clover,  and  were  uncommonly  fat  and  plump.  When  sent 
to  trade,  slaves  wisely  never  stint  themselves  of  beer  or 
anything  else,  which  their  master's  goods  can  buy. 

The  insects  called  ant-lions  (Ifyrmeeoleo),  were  very  nu- 
merous in  sandy  places  under  shady  trees,  even  where  but 
few  ants  were  to  be  seen.  These  patient  creatures  lie  in 
ambush,  and  have  a  great  deal  of  extra  labour  at  this  season 
of  the  year.  The  high  winds  fill  up  their  pitfalls  with  drift- 
ing sand,  and  no  sooner  have  they  carefully  shovelled  it  all 
out,  than  it  is  again  blown  in,  thus  keeping  them  constantly 
at  work  till  the  wind  goes  down. 

The  temperature  of  the  Zambesi  had  increased  10^  since 
August,  being  now  80°.  The  air  was  as  high  as  96°  after 
sunset ;  and,  the  vicinity  of  the  water  being  the  coolest  part, 
we  usually  made  our  beds  close  by  the  river's  brink,  though 
there  in  danger  of  crocodiles.  Africa  differs  from  India  in  the 
air  always  becoming  cool  and  refreshing  long  before  the  sun 
returns,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  we  can  in  this 
country  bear  exposure  to  the  sun,  which  would  be  fatal  in 
India.  It  is  probably  owing  to  the  greater  dryness  of  the 
African  atmosphere  that  sunstroke  is  so  rarely  met  with.  In 
twenty-two  years  Dr.  Livingstone  never  met  or  heard  of  a 
single  case,  though  the  protective  head-dresses  of  India  are 
rarely  seen. 

When  the  water  is  nearly  at  its  lowest,  we  occasionally 
meet  with  small  rapids  which  are  probably  not  in  existence 
during  the  rest  of  the  year.  Having  slept  opposite  the  rivulet 


Chap.  XVI.  HERD  OF  HIPPOPOTAMI.  323 

Barney  which  comes  from  the  south,  we  passed  the  island  of 
Nakansalo,  and  went  down  the  rapids  of  the  same  name  on 
the  17th,  and  came  on  the  morning  of  the  19th  to  the  more 
serions  ones  of  Nakabele,  at  the  entrance  to  Eariba.     The 
Makololo  goided  the  canoes  admirably  through  the  open- 
ing in  the  dyke.   When  we  entered  the  gorge  we  came  on 
upwards  of  thirty  hippopotami :  a  bank  near  the  entrance 
stretches  two-thirds  across  the  narrowed  river,  and  in  the 
still  place  behind  it  they  were  swimming  about.    Several 
were  in  the  channel,   and  our  canoe-men  were  afraid  to 
venture  down  among  them,  because,  as  they  affirm,  there  is 
commonly  an  Ulnatured  one  in  a  herd,  which  takes  a  malig- 
nant pleasure  in  upsetting  cctnoes.    Two  or  three  boys  on 
the  rocks  opposite   amused  themselves  by  throwing  stones 
at  the  frightened  animals,  and  hit  several  on  the  head.    It 
,  would  have  been  no  difficult  matter  to  have  shot  the  whole 
herd.    We  fired  a  few  shots  to  drive  them  off;  the  balls 
often  glance  off  the  skull,  and  no  more  harm  is  done  than 
when  a  schoolboy  gets  a  bloody  nose ;  we  killed  one,  which 
floated  away  down  the  rapid  current,  followed  by  a  number 
of  men  on  the  bank.    A  native  called  to  us  from  the  left 
bank,  and  said  that  a  man  on  his  side  knew  how  to  pray 
to  the  Eariba  gods,  and  advised  us  to  hire  him  to  pray  for 
our  safety,  while  we  were  going  down  the  rapids,  or  we  should 
certainly  all  be  drowned.    No  one  ever  risked  his  life  in 
Eariba  without  first  paying  the  river-doctor,  or  priest,  for  his 
prayers.     Our  men  asked  if  there  was  a  cataract  in  front, 
but  he  declined  giving  any  information ;  they  were  not  on 
his  side  of  the  river ;  if  they  would  come  over,  then  he  might 
be  able  to  tell  them.     We  crossed,  but  he  went  off  to  the 
village.    We  then  landed  and  walked  over  the  hills  to  have  a 
look  at  Eariba  before  trusting  our  canoes  in  it    The  current 
was  strong,  and  there  was  broken  water  in  some  places,  but 

Y  2 


324 


DEAD  HIPPOPOTAMUS. 


Chap.  XVL 


the  channel  was  nearly  straight^  and  had  no  cataract,  so  we 
determined  to  risk  it  Our  men  visited  the  Tillage  while 
we  were  gone,  and  were  treated  to  beer  and  tobacco.  The 
priest  who  knows  how  to  pray  to  the  god  that  rules  the 
rapids  followed  us  with  several  of  his  friends^  and  they  were 
rather  surprised  to  see  us  pass  down  in  safety,  without  the 
aid  of  his  intercisssion.  The  natives  who  followed  the  dead 
hippopotamus  caught  it  a  couple  of  miles  below,  and,  hav- 
ing made  it  fast  to  a  rock,  were  sitting  waiting  for  us  on 
the  bank  beside  the  dead  animaL  As  there  was  a  consider- 
able current  there,  and  the  rocky  banks  were  unfit  for  our 
beds,  we  took  the  hippopotamus  in  tow,  telling  the  villagers 
to  follow,  and  we  would  give  them  most  of  the  meat  The 
crocodiles  tugged  so  hard  at  the  carcass,  that  we  were  soon 
obliged  to  cast  it  adriffc,  to  float  down  in  the  current,  to 
avoid  upsetting  the  canoe.  We  had  to  go  on  so  far  brfore 
findiQg  a  suitable  spot  to  spend  the  night  in,  that  the  natives 
concluded  we  did  not  intend  to  share  the  meat  with  th^n, 
and  returned  to  the  village.  We  slept  two  nights  at  the 
place  were  the  hippopotamus  was  cut  up.*  The  crocodiles 
had  a  busy  time  of  it  in  the  dark,  tearing  away  at  what  was 
left  in  the  river,  and  thrashiog  the  water  furiously  with  their 
powerful  tails.  The  hills  on  both  sides  of  Eariba  are  much 
like  those  of  Eebrabasa,  the  strata  tilted  and  twisted  in 
every  direction,  with  no  level  ground. 

Although  the  hills  confine  the  Zambesi  within  a  narrow 
channel  for  a  number  of  miles,  there  are  no  rapids  beyond 
those  near  the  entrance.  The  river  is  smooth  and  apparently 
very  deep.  Only  one  single  human  being  was  seen  in  the 
gorge,  the  country  being  too  rough  for  culture.    Some  rocks 


*  The  animal  was  a  female,  and 
fat ;  it  was  10  ft.  in  length  and  4  ft. 
1    in.    in   height.     A   young   bnU 


obtained  higher  up  was  4  ft.  8  iu. 
at  withera ;  9  ft  7  in.  from  anoat  to 
insertion  of  taiL 


Chap.  XVI.  HOSPITABLE  OLD  HEADMAN.  325 

in  the  water,  near  the  outlet  of  Eariba,  at  a  distance  look 
like  a  fort ;  and  snch  large  masses  dislocated,  bent,  and  even 
twisted  to  a  remarkable  degree,  at  once  attest  some  tre- 
mendous upheaving  and  convulsive  action  of  nature,  which 
probably  caused  Kebrabasa,  Kariba,  and  the  Victoria  Falls 
to  assume  their  present  forms;  it  took  place  after  the  for- 
mation of  the  coal,  that  mineral  having  then  been  tilted  up. 
We  have  probably  nothing  equal  to  it  in  the  present  quiet 
operations  of  nature. 

On  emerging  we  pitched  our  camp  by  a  small  stream, 
the  Pendele,  a  few  miles  below  the  gorge.  The  Palabi 
mountain  stands  on  the  western  side  of  the  lower  end  of 
the  Kariba  strait ;  the  range  to  which  it  belongs  crosses  the 
river,  and  runs  to  the  south-east.  Chikumbula,  a  hospitable 
old  headman,  under  Nchomokela,  the  paramount  Chief  of  a 
large  district,  whom  we  did  not  see,  brought  us  next  morn- 
ing a  great  basket  of  meal,  and  four  fowls,  with  some  beer, 
and  a  cake  of  salt,  '^  to  make  it  taste  good."  Chikumbula 
said  that  the  elephants  plagued  them,  by  eating  up  the 
cotton-plants;  but  his  people  seem  to  be  well  off. 

A  few  days  before  we  came,  they  caught  three  buffaloes  in 
pitfalls  in  one  night,  and,  unable  to  eat  them  all,  left  one 
to  rot.  During  the  night  the  wind  changed  and  blew  from 
the  dead  buffalo  to  our  sleeping-place;  and  a  hungry  lion, 
not  at  all  dainty  in  his  food,  stirred  up  the  putrid  mass,  and 
growled  and  gloated  over  his  feast,  to  the  disturbance  of  our 
slumbers.  Game  of  all  kinds  is  in  most  extraordinary  abun- 
dance, especially  from  this  point  to  below  the  Kafue,  and  so 
it  is  on  Moselekatse's  side,  where  there  are  no  inhabitants. 
The  drought  drives  all  the  game  to  the  river  to  drink. 
An  hour's  walk  on  the  right  bank,  morning  or  evening,  reveals 
a  country  swarming  with  wild  animals :  vast  herds  of  pallahs, 
many  waterbucks,  koodoos,  buffaloes,  wild  pigs,  elands,  zebras, 


326  WHITE  HIPPOPOTAMUS.  Chap.  XVL 

and  monkeys  appear  ;  francolins,  gainearfowls.  and  myriads 
of  turtledoves  attract  the  eye  in  the  covers,  with  the  fresh 
spoor  of  elephants  and  rhinoceroses,  which  had  been  at  the 
river  during  the  night.  Every  few  miles  we  came  upon  a 
school  of  hippopotami,  asleep  on  some  shallow  sandbank ; 
their  bodies,  nearly  all  out  of  the  water,  appeared  like 
masses  of  black  rock  in  the  river.  When  these  animals 
are  hunted  much,  they  become  proportionably  wary,  but 
here  no  hunter  ever  troubles  them,  and  they  repose  in 
security,  always  however  taking  the  precaution  of  sleeping 
just  above  the  deep  channel,  into  which  they  can  plunge 
when  alarmed.  When  a  shot  is  fired  into  a  sleeping  herd, 
all  start  up  on  their  feet,  and  stare  with  peculiar  stolid  looks 
of  hippopotamic  surprise,  and  wait  for  another  shot  before 
dashing  into  deep  water.  A  few  miles  below  Chikumbula's 
we  saw  a  white  hippopotamus  in  a  herd.  Our  men  had  never 
seen  one  like  it  before.  It  was  of  a  pinkish  white,  exactly 
like  the  colour  of  the  Albino.  It  seemed  to  be  the  father  of 
a  number  of  others,  for  there  were  many  marked  with  large 
light  patches.  The  so-called  tohtte  elephant,  is  just  such  a 
pinkish  Albino  as  this  hippopotamus.  A  few  miles  above 
Kariba,  we  observed  that,  in  two  small  hamlets,  many  of  the 
inhabitants  had  a  similar  affection  of  the  skin.  The  same 
influence  appeared  to  have  affected  man  and  beast  A  dark 
coloured  hippopotamus  stood  alone,  as  if  expelled  from 
the  herd,  and  bit  the  water,  shaking  his  head  from  side  to 
side  in  a  most  frantic  manner.  This  biting  the  water  with 
his  huge  jaws  is  the  hippopotamus'  way  of  "  slamming 
the  door."  When  the  female  has  twins,  she  is  said  to  kill 
one  of  them. 

We  touched  at  the  beautiful  tree-covered  island  of  Kalabi, 
opposite  where  Tuba-mokoro  lectured  the  lion  in  our  way  up. 
The  ancestors  of  the  people  who  now  inhabit  this  island  pes- 


Chap.  XVI.  SEQUASHA.  327 

sessed  cattle.  The  tsetse  has  tciken  possession  of  the  country 
smce  "  the  beeves  were  lifted."  No  one  knows  where  these  in- 
sects breed ;  at  a  certain  season  all  disappear^  and  as  suddenly 
come  back^  no  one  knows  whence.  The  natives  are  such 
close  observers  of  nature,  that  their  ignorance  in  this  case 
surprised  us.  A  solitary  hippopotamus  had  selected  the  little 
bay  in  which  we  landed,  and  where  the  women  drew  water, 
for  his  dwelling-place.  Pretty  little  lizards,  with  light  blue 
and  red  tails,  run  among  the  rocks,  catching  flies  and  other 
insect&  These  harmless — though  to  new-comers  repulsive — 
creatures  sometimes  perforip  good  service  to  man,  by  eating 
great  numbers  of  the  destructive  white  ants. 

At  noon  on  the  24th  October,  we  found  Sequasha  in  a 
village  below  the  Kafue,  with  the  main  body  of  his  people.  He 
said  that  210  elephants  had  been  killed  during  his  trip; 
many  of  his  men  being  excellent  hunters.  The  numbers 
of  animals  we  saw  renders  this  possible.  He  reported  that^ 
after  reaching  the  Eoifue,  he  went  northwards  into  the  country 
of  the  Zulus,  whose  ancestors  formerly  migrated  from  the 
south  and  set  up  a  sort  of  Bepublican  form  of  government. 
Sequasha  is  the  greatest  Portuguese  traveller  we  ever  became 
acquainted  with,  and  he  boasts  that  he  is  able  to  speak  a 
dozen  different  dialects ;  yet,  unfortunately,  he  can  give  but 
a  very  meagre  account  of  the  countries  and  people  he  has 
seen,  and  his  statements  are  not  very  much  to  be  relied 
on.  But  considering  the  influences  among  which  he  has 
been  reared,  and  the  want  of  the  means  of  education  at 
Tette,  it  is  a  wonder  that  he  possesses  the  good  traits  that  he 
sometimes  exhibits.  Among  his  wares  were  several  cheap 
American  clocks ;  a  useless  investment  rather,  for  a  part  of 
Africa  where  no  one  cares  for  the  artificial  measurement  of 
time.  These  clocks  got  him  into  trouble  among  the  Banyai : 
he  set  them  all  agoing  in  the  presence  of  a  Chief,  who  became 


328  MODE  OF  SALUTATION.  Chap.  XVL 

frightened  at  the  strange  sounds  they  made,  and  looked  upon 
them  as  so  many  witchcraft  agencies  at  work  to  biing  all 
manner  of  evils  upon  himself  and  his  people.  Sequasha,  it 
was  decided,  had  been  guilty  of  a  milando  or  crime,  and  he 
had  to  pay  a  heavy  fine  of  cloth  and  beads  for  his  exhibition. 
He  alluded  to  our  having  heard  that  he  had  killed  Mpangwe, 
and  he  denied  having  actually  done  so;  but  in  his  absence  his 
name  had  got  mixed  up  in  the  affair,  in  consequence  of  his 
slaves,  while  drinking  beer  one  night  with  Namakusuru,  the 
man  who  succeeded  Mpangwe,  saying  that  they  would  kill  the 
Chief  for  him.  His  partner  had  not  thought  of  this  when  we 
saw  him  on  the  way  up,  for  he  tried  to  excuse  the  murder, 
by  saying  that  now  they  had  put  the  right  man  into  the 
Chieftainship. 

From  Tombanyama's  onwards  the  Zambesi  is  full  of  islands, 
and  many  buffaloes  had  been  attracted  by  the  fresh  young 
grass  and  reeds.  One  was  shot  on  the  forenoon  of  the  27ih. 
Distant  thunder  was  heard  during  the  night,  and,  as  usually 
happens  in  this  state  of  the  atmosphere,  the  meat  spoiled  so 
rapidly,  that  it  was  not  fit  to  eat  next  morning.  Hunger  in 
this  cajse,  and  with  no  choice  but  want,  made  a  bitter  thing 
sweet.  The  same  rapid  decomposition  is  also  produced  if 
meat  is  hung  on  a  papaw-tree  for  four  or  five  hours :  an  hour 
or  two,  however,  makes  it  tender  only. 

Three  of  Ma-mburuma's  men  brought  us  a  present  of  meal 
and  fowls,  as  we  rested  on  the  28th  on  an  island  near 
Podebode.  Their  mode  of  salutation,  intended  to  show  good 
manners  and  respectful  etiquette,  was  to  clap  the  thigh  with 
one  hand  while  approaching  with  the  present  in  the  other ; 
and,  on  sitting  down  before  us,  to  clap  the  hands  together,  then 
to  continue  clapping  on  the  thigh  when  they  handed  the 
present  to  our  men,  and  with  both  hands  when  they  received 
one  in  return,  and  also  on  their  departure.    This  ceremonious 


Chap.  XVI.  THE  KARIVUA  RAPIDS.  32J> 

procedure  is  gone  through  with  grave  composure,  and  mothers 
may  be  observed  enjoining  on  their  children  the  proper 
clapping  of  the  hands,  as  good  manners  are  taught  among 
ourselves. 

After  three  hours*  sail,  on  the  morning  of  the  29th,  the 
river  was  narrowed  again  by  the  mountains  of  Mburuma, 
called  Earivua,  into  one  channel,  and  another  rapid  dimly 
appeared.  It  was  formed  by  two  currents  guided  by 
rocks  to  the  centre.  In  going  down  it,  the  men  sent  by 
Sekeletu  behaved  very  nobly.  The  canoes  entered  without 
previous  survey,  and  the  huge  jobbling  waves  of  mid-current 
began  at  once  to  fill  them.  With  great  presence  of  mind, 
and  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  two  men  lightened  each 
by  jumping  overboard ;  they  then  ordered  a  Batoka  man 
to  do  the  same,  as  "the  white  men  must  be  saved."  <*I  can- 
not swim,"  said  the  Batoka.  "  Jump  out,  then,  and  hold  on 
to  the  canoe ;"  which  he  instanfly  did.  Swimming  along- 
side,  they  guided  the  swamping  canoes  down  the  swift  ciurent 
to  the  foot  of  the  rapid,  and  then  ran  them  ashore  to  bale 
them  out.  A  boat  could  have  passed  down  safely,  but  our 
canoes  were  not  a  foot  above  the  water  at  the  gunwales. 

Thanks  to  the  bravery  of  these  poor  fellows,  nothing  was 
lost,  although  everything  was  well  soaked.  This  rapid  is 
nearly  opposite  the  west  end  of  the  Mburuma  mountains  or 
Earivna.  Another  soon  begins  below  it  They  are  said  to  be 
all  smoothed  over  when  the  river  rises.  The  canoes  had  to 
be  unloaded  at  this  the  worst  rapid,  and  the  goods  carried 
about  a  hundred  yards.  By  taking  the  time  in  which  a  piece 
of  stick  floated  past  100  feet,  we  found  the  current  to  be 
running  six  knots,  by  far  the  greatest  velocity  noted  in  the 
river.  As  the  men  were  bringing  the  last  canoe  down  close 
to  the  shore,  the  stem  swung  round  into  the  current,  and  all 
except  one  man  let  go,  rather  than  be  dragged  off.    He 


330  ARRIVE  AT  ZUMBO.  Chap.  XVI. 

clung  to  the  bow,  and  was  swept  out  into  the  middle  of  the 
stream.  Having  held  on  when  he  ought  to  have  let  go,  he 
next  put  his  life  in  jeopardy  hj  letting  go  when  he  ought  to 
have  held  on ;  and  was  in  a  few  seconds  swallowed  iq>  by  a 
fearful  whirlpool.  His  comrades  launched  out  a  canoe  below, 
and  caught  him  as  he  rose  the  third  time  to  the  sur&ce,  and 
saved  him,  though  much  exhausted  and  very  cold. 

The  scenery  of  this  pass  reminded  us  of  Eebrabasa,  although 
it  is  much  inferior.  A  band  of  the  same  black  shining  glaze 
runs  along  the  rocks  about  two  feet  from  the  water's  edge. 
There  was  not  a  blade  of  grass  on  some  of  the  hills,  it  being 
the  end  of  the  usual  dry  season  succeeding  a  previous  severe 
drought;  yet  the  hill-sides  were  dotted  over  with  beautiful 
green  trees.  A  few  antelopes  were  seen  on  the  rugged  slopes, 
where  some  people  too  appeared  lying  down,  taking  a  cup  of 
beer.  The  Earivua  narrows  are  about  thirty  miles  in  length. 
They  end  at  the  moimtain  Eoganora.  Two  rocks,  twelve  or 
fifteen  feet  above  the  water  at  the  time  we  were  there,  may 
in  flood  be  covered  and  dangerous.  Our  chief  danger  was  the 
wind,  a  very  slight  ripple  being  sufficient  to  swamp  canoes. 

We  arrived  at  Zumbo,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Loangwa, 
on  the  1st  of  November.  The  water  being  scarcely  up  to 
the  knee,  our  land  pjtrty  waded  this  river  with  ease.  A 
buffalo  was  shot  on  an  island  opposite  Pangola's,  the  ball 
lodging  in  the  spleen.  It  was  foimd  to  have  been  wounded 
in  the  same  organ  previously,  for  an  iron  bullet  was  im- 
bedded in  it,  and  the  wound  entirely  healed.  A  gr^tt  deal 
of  the  plant  Pidia  stratiotes  was  seen  floating  in  the 
river.  Many  people  inhabit  the  right  bank  about  this 
part,  yet  the  game  is  very  abundant 

As  we  were  taking  our  breakfast  on  the  morning  of  the 
2nd,  the  Mambo  Kazai,  of  whom  we  knew  nothing,  and 
his  men  came  with  their  muskets  and  large  powder-horns 


Chap.  XVT.  FAVOUB  TO  THE  ENGLISH.  331 

• 
to  levy  a  fine,  and  obtain  payment  for  the  wood  we  used 

in  cooking.  6nt  on  our  replying  to  his  demand  that  we  were 
English,  "Oh!  are  you?"  he  said;  "I  thought  you  wer6 
Bazungu  (Portuguese).  They  are  the  people  I  take  pay- 
ments from :"  and  he  apologized  for  his  mistake.  Bazungu, 
or  Azungu,  is  a  term  applied  to  all  foreigners  of  a  light  colour, 
and  to  Arabs ;  even  to  trading  slaves  if  clothed ;  it  probably 
means  foreigners  or  visitors, — ^from  zurya,  to  visit  or  wander, — 
and  the  Portuguese  were  the  only  foreigners  these  men  had 
ever  seen.  As  we  had  no  desire  to  pass  for  people  of  that 
nation — quite  the  contrary — we  usually  made  a  broad  line 
of  demarcation  by  saying  that  we  were  English,  and  the 
English  neither  bought,  sold,  nor  held  black  people  as  slaves, 
but  wished  to  put  a  stop  to  the  slave-trade  altogether. 

We  called  upon  our  friend,  Mpende,  in  passing.  He  pro- 
vided a  hut  for  us,  with  new  mats  spread  on  the  floor. 
Having  told  him  that  we  were  hurrying  on  because  the  rains 
were  near,  "Are  they  near?"  eagerly  inquired  an  old 
counsellor,  "  and  are  we  to  have  plenty  of  rain  this  year  ?  " 
We  could  only  say  that  it  was  about  the  usual  time  for  the 
rains  to  commence ;  and  that  there  were  the  usual  indications 
in  great  abundance  of  clouds  floating  westwards,  but  that  we 
knew  nothing  more  than  they  did  themselves.  Some  people 
occasionally  take  advantage  of  the  supposed  credulity  of  the 
natives  to  gain  temporary  applause ;  but  Africans  ai*e  usually 
shrewd  enough  to  detect  some  discrepancy,  and  no  one  is 
duped  but  the  traveller  himself.  Mpende  had  been  blamed 
&r  driving  the  clouds  away  during  the  past  drought,  and  had 
to  pay  a  heavy  fine  to  the  Pondoro,  as  an  atonement  for  his 
offence.  It  blew  a  gale  on  the  night  of  the  4th,  after  which 
the  wind  suddenly  chopped  round,  and  blew  down  the  river, 
and  we  had  thunder,  lightning,  and  rain.  The  temperature 
of  both  air  and  water  was  lowered  next  morning,  the  river 


332  THUNDERSTORMS  —  HIPPOPOTAMI.       Chap.  XVI. 

having  fallen  7®,  or  to  78^  There  were  thunderstonns  all 
aronnd  us  during  the  day,  and  the  Zambesi  rose  seyeral 
inches,  and  became  highly  discoloured. 

The  hippopotami  are  more  wary  here  than  higher  up,  as 
the  natives  hunt  them  with  guns.  Having  shot  one  on  a 
shallow  sandbank,  our  men  undertook  to  bring  it  over  to  the 
left  bank,  in  order  to  cut  it  up  with  greater  ease.  It  was  a 
fine  fat  one,  and  all  rejoiced  in  the  hope  of  eating  the  £Eit  for 
butter,  with  our  hard  dry  cakes  of  native  meal.  Our  cook 
was  sent  over  to  cut  a  choice  piece  for  dinner,  but  returned 
with  the  astonishing  intelligence  that  the  carcass  was  gone. 
They  had  been  hoodwinked,  and  were  very  much  ashamed  of 
themselves.  A  number  of  Banyai  came  to  assist  in  rolling 
it  ashore,  and  asserted  that  it  was  all  shallow  water.  Thev 
rolled  it  over  and  over  towards  the  land,  and,  finding  the  rope 
we  had  made  fast  to  it,  as  they  said,  an  encumbrance,  it  was 
unloosed.  AU  were  shouting  and  talking  as  loud  as  they 
could  bawl,  when  suddenly  our  expected  feast  plumped  into  a 
deep  hole,  as  the  Banyai  intended  it  should  do.  When  sink- 
ing, all  the  Makololo  jumped  in  after  it  One  caught  fran- 
ticly  at  the  tail ;  another  grasped  a  foot,  a  third  seized  the 
hip ;  "  but,  by  Sebituane !  it  would  go  down,  in  spite  of  all 
that  we  could  do."  Instead  of  a  fat  hippopotamus,  we  had 
only  a  lean  fowl  for  dinner,  and  were  glad  enough  to  get 
even  that.  The  hippopotamus,  however,  floated  during  the 
night,  and  was  found  about  a  mile  below.  The  Banyai  then 
assembled  on  the  bank,  and  disputed  our  right  to  the  beast : 
"It  might  have  been  shot  by  somebody  else."  Our  men 
took  a  little  of  it  and  then  left  it,  rather  than  come  into 
colhsion  with  them. 

A  fine  waterbuck  was  shot  in  the  Kakolole  narrows,  at  Mount 
Manyerere ;  it  dropped  beside  the  creek  where  it  was  feeding ; 
an  enormous  crocodile,  that  had  been  watehing  it  at  the  moment. 


Chap.  XVI.  WATERBUCK  SHOT.  333 

seized  and  dragged  it  into  the  water,  which  was  not  very  deep. 
The  mortally-wounded  animal  made  a  desperate  plunge,  and, 
hauling  the  crocodile  several  yards,  tore  itself  out  of  the 
hideous  jaws.  To  escape  the  hunter,  the  waterbuck  jumped 
into  the  river,  and  was  swimming  across,  when  another  croco- 
dile gave  chase,  but  a  ball  soon  sent  it  to  the  bottom.  The 
waterbuck  swam  a  little  longer,  the  fine  head  dropped,  the 
body  turned  over,  and  one  of  the  canoes  dragged  it  ashore. 
Below  Eakolole,  and  still  at  the  base  of  Manyerere  mountain, 
several  coal-seams,  not  noticed  on  our  ascent,  were  now  seen 
to  crop  out  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Zambesi. 

Chitora,  of  Chicova,  treated  us  with  his  former  hospitality. 
Our  men  were  all  much  pleased  with  his  kindness,  and  certainly 
did  not  look  upon  it  as  a  proof  of  weakness.  They  meant  to 
return  his  friendliness  when  they  came  this  way  on  a  maraud- 
ing expedition  to  eat  the  sheep  of  the  Banyai,  for  insulting 
them  in  the  afiair  of  the  hippopotamus ;  they  would  then  send 
word  to  Chitora  not  to  run  away  for  they,  being  his  friends, 
would  do  such  a  good-hearted  man  no  harm. 

In  our  voyage  down  we  had  gleaned  the  following  informa- 
tion respecting  the  river  itselfl  From  the  point  where  we 
embarked  at  Sinamane's  to  Eansalo,  the  river  is  more  na- 
vigable than  between  Tette  and  Senna,  though  much  of  it  is 
only  from  250  to  300  yards  broad,  or  like  the  Thames  at 
London-bridge.  It  is  deep,  and  flows  gently.  A  little  below 
Kansalo,  at  Eariba,  a  basaltic  dyke,  called  Nakabele,  with  a 
wide  opening  in  it>  dangerous  only  lor  canoes,  stretches  like 
an  artificial  dam  across  the  stream.  The  deep  and  narrow 
river  then  flows  on  for  several  miles  through  a  range  of  lofty 
mountains.  Still  further  down,  and  from  the  Kafue  eastward, 
it  is  at  least  half  a  mile  wide ;  the  current  is  gentle,  and  there 
are  many  sandy  islands.  Then  there  is  the  rapid  at  Karivua, 
mentioned  above,  about  100  yards  in  length,  with  a  current  of 


334  KEBRABASA  RAPIDS.  Chap.  XVL 

nearly  six  knots  an  hour ;  this  is  the  most  rapid  part  of  the 
Zambesi,  except  in  actual  cataracts.  In  the  space  below 
ZumbOy  and  on  to  Chicova,  the  river  is  again  broad  and  of  easy 
navigation.  Chicova,  of  which  geographers  have  spoken  some- 
times as  a  kingdom,  and  sometimes  as  a  cataract,  is  a  district 
having  a  fertile  plain  on  the  south  bank,  and  both  sides  of 
the  river  were  formerly  well  cultivated ;  but  now  it  has  no 
population. 

We  entered  Kebrabasa  rapids,  at  the  east  end  of  Chicova, 
in  the  canoes,  and  went  down  a  number  of  miles,  until  the 
river  narrowed  into  a  groove  of  fifty  or  sixty  yards  wide,  of 
which  we  have  already  spoken  in  describing  the  flood-bed  and 
channel  of  low  water.  The  navigation  then  became  difficolt 
and  dangerous.  A  fifteen  feet  fall  of  the  water  in  our  absence 
had  developed  many  cataracts.  Two  of  our  canoes  passed  saMy 
down  a  narrow  channel,  which,  bifurcating,  had  an  ugly  whirlr 
pool  at  the  rocky  partition  between  the  two  branches,  the  deep 
hole  in  the  whirls  at  times  opening  and  then  shutting.  The 
Doctor's  canoe  came  next,  and  seemed  to  be  drifting  broadside 
into  the  open  vortex,  in  spite  of  the  utmost  exertions  of  the 
paddlers.  The  rest  were  expecting  to  have  to  puU  to  the 
rescue ;  the  men  saying,  **  Look  where  these  people  are  going ! — 
look,  look ! " — ^when  a  loud  crash  burst  on  our  ears.  Dr.  Ku-k's 
canoe  was  dashed  on  a  projection  of  the  perpendicular  rocks, 
by  a  sudden  and  mysterious  boiling  up  of  the  river,  which 
occurs  at  irregular  intervals.  Dr.  £irk  was  seen  resisting  the 
sucking-down  action  of  the  water,  which  must  have  been 
fifteen  fathoms  deep,  and  raising  himself  by  his  arms  on  to 
the  ledge,  while  his  steersman,  holding  on  to  the  same  rocks, 
saved  the  canoe ;  but  nearly  all  its  contents  were  sw^t  away 
down  the  stream.  Dr.  Livingstone's  canoe  meanwhile,  which 
had  distracted  the  men's  attention,  was  saved  by  the  cavity  in 
the  whirlpool  filling  up  as  the  frightful  eddy  was  reached.    A 


Chap.  XVI.  WOMEN  TO  BE  SOLD.  335 

few  of  the  things  in  Dr.  Kirk's  canoe  were  left ;  but  all  that 
was  yaluable,  including  a  chronometer,  a  barometer,  and,  to 
our  great  sorrow,  his  notes  of  the  journey  and  botanical 
drawings  of  the  firuit-trees  of  the  interior,  perished. 

We  now  left  the  river,  and  proceeded  on  foot,  sorry  that 
we  had  not  done  so  the  day  before.  The  men  were 
thoroughly  frightened,  they  had  never  seen  such  perilous 
navigation.  They  would  carry  all  the  loads,  rather  than 
risk  Kebrabasa  any  longer ;  but  the  fatigue  of  a  day's  march 
over  the  hot  rocks  and  burning  sand  changed  their  tune 
before  night ;  and  then  they  regretted  having  left  the  canoes ; 
they  thought  they  should  have  dragged  them  past  the 
dangerous  places,  and  then  launched  them  again.  One  of 
the  two  donkeys  died  from  exhaustion  near  the  Luia. 
Though  the  men  eat  zebras  and  quaggas,  blood  relations 
of  the  donkey,  they  were  shocked  at  the  idea  of  eating  the 
ass ;  ''it  would  be  like  eating  man  himself,  because  the  donkey 
lives  with  man,  and  is  his  bosom  companion."  We  met  two 
large  trading  parties  of  Tette  slaves  on  their  way  to  Zumbo, 
leading,  to  be  sold  for  ivory,  a  number  of  Manganja  women, 
vrith  ropes  round  their  necks,  and  all  made  fast  to  one  long 

rope. 

Panzo,  the  headman  of  the  village  east  of  Kebrabasa, 
received  us  with  great  kindness.  After  the  usual  salutation 
he  went  up  the  hill,  and,  in  a  loud  voice,  called  across  the 
valley  to  the  women  of  several  hamlets^  to  cook  supper  for 
us.  About  eight  in  the  evening  he  returned,  followed  by  a 
procession  of  women,  bringing  the  food.  There  were  eight 
dishes  of  nsima,  or  porridge,  six  of  diflTerent  sorts  of  very 
good  wild  vegetables,  with  dishes  of  beans  and  fowls;  all 
deliciously  well  cooked,  and  scrupulously  clean.  The  wooden 
dishes  were  nearly  as  white  as  the  meal  itseK:  food  also  was 
brought  for  our  men.    Eipe  mangoes,  which  usually  indicate 


vJ36  ENGLISH  SAILORS*  FARM.  Chap.  XVL 

the  vicinity  of  the  Portuguese,  were  found  on  the  21st 
November ;  and  we  reached  Tette  early  on  the  23rd,  having 
been  absent  a  little  over  six  months. 

The  two  English  sailors,  left  in  charge  of  the  steamer,  were 
well,  had  behaved  well,  and  had  enjoyed  excellent  health  all 
the  time  we  were  away.  Their  farm  had  been  a  failure.  We 
left  a  few  sheep,  to  be  slaughtered  when  they  wished  for  £resh 
meat,  and  two  dozen  fowls.  Purchasing  more,  they  soon  had 
doubled  the  number  of  the  latter,  and  anticipated  a  good  supply 
of  eggs ;  but  they  also  bought  two  monkeys,  and  they  ate  all 
the  eggs.  A  hippopotamus  came  up  one  night,  and  laid  waste 
their  vegetable  garden;  the  sheep  broke  into  their  cotton 
patch,  when  it  was  in  flower,  and  ate  it  all,  except  the  stems ; 
then  the  crocodiles  carried  off  the  sheep,  and  the  natives  stole 
the  fowls.  Nor  were  they  more  successful  as  gunsmiths :  a 
Portuguese  trader,  having  an  exalted  opinion  of  the  ingenuity 
of  English  sailors,  showed  them  a  double-barreled  rifle^  and 
inquired  if  they  could  put  on  the  browning^  which  had 
rusted  off.  ^'I  think  I  knows  how,"  said  one,  whose 
father  was  a  blacksmith,  "  it's  very  easy ;  you  have  only  to 
put  the  barrels  in  the  fire."  A  great  fire  of  wood  was  nuide 
on  shore,  and  the  unlucky  barrels  put  over  it,  to  secure  the 
handsome  rifle  colour.  To  Jack's  utter  amazement  tJie 
barrels  came  asunder.  To  get  out  of  the  scrape,  his  com- 
panion and  he  stuck  the  pieces  together  with  resin,  and  sent 
it  to  the  owner,  with  the  message,  '^  It  was  all  they  could  do 
for  it.  and  they  would  not  chu^e  him  an]i^ing  for  the  job!" 
They  had  also  invented  an  original  mode  of  settling  a 
bargain ;  having  ascertained  the  market  price  of  provisions» 
they  paid  that,  but  no  more.  If  the  traders  refused  to 
leave  the  ship  till  the  price  was  increased,  a  chameleon,  of 
which  the  natives  have  a  mortal  dread,  was  brought  out 
of  the  cabin ;  and  the  moment  the  natives  saw  the  creature. 


Chap.  XVI.         IMPOSITION  ON  DON  PEDRO  V.  337 

they  at  once  sprang  overboard.    The  chameleon  settled  every 
dispute  in  a  twinkling. 

But  besides  their  goodhumoured  intercourse,  they  showed 
humanity  worthy  of  English  sailors.  A  terrible  scream 
roused  them  up  one  night,  and  tliey  pushed  off  in  a  boat 
to  the  rescue.  A  crocodile  had  caught  a  woman,  and  was 
dragging  her  across  a  shallow  sandbank.  Just  as  they  came 
up  to  her,  she  gave  a  fearful  shriek :  the  horrid  reptile  had 
snapped  off  her  leg  at  the  knee.  They  took  her  on  board, 
bandaged  the  limb  as  well  as  they  could,  and,  not  thinking 
of  any  better  way  of  showing  their  sympathy,  gave  her  a 
gla^  of  rum,  and  carried  her  to  a  hut  in  the  village.  Next 
morning  they  found  the  bandages  torn  off,  and  the  un- 
fortunate creature  left  to  die.  "  I  believe,"  remarked  Eowe, 
one  of  the  sailors;  «  her  master  was  angry  with  us  for  saving 
her  life,  seeing  as  how  she  had  lost  her  leg." 

Having  heard  a  great  deal  about  a  military  and  agri- 
cultural colony,  which  was  sent  out  by  the  late  King  of 
Portugal,  Don  Pedro  V.,  well  known  as  a  true-hearted 
man,  we  felt  much  interest  in  an  experiment  begun  under 
his  enlightened  auspices.  Immediately  after  our  arrival  at 
Tette,  we  called  upon  the  new  Governor.  BUs  Excellency 
coolly  said  that  the  king  had  been  grossly  deceived  by 
those  appointed  to  select  the  men.  He  smiled  at  his  Govern- 
ment sending  out  military  convicts  as  colonists;  and  said, 
"  These  men  are  not  fitted  to  do  anything  in  the  country ; 
they  know  how  to  keep  their  arms  clean,  and  nothing  else. 
Of  what  possible  use  was  it  to  send  agricultural  implements 
for  men  like  these  ?  The  Government  is  deceived  respecting 
Africa." 


338  THE  "  ASTHMATIC  "*  GROUNDED.        Chap.  XVII. 


CHAPTEE    XVII. 

Down  to  Kongone  —  Latest  bulletin  of  "the  Astlimatic *' —  The  old  lady's 
demise— Beach  Senna  by  canoe  —  Unprofitable  trading  by  slay^ — The 
biter  bit,  or  Sequasha  squeezed — Coals  dear  by  slave  labour  —  His  Ex- 
cellency's yacht — Kongone — English  papers — Flesh,  fowl,  fish,  and  har- 
monious crabs  of  the  mangrove  swamps  —  Busungu —  The  saw-fish. 

The  Zambesi  being  unusually  low,  we  remained  at  Tette 
till  it  rose  a  little,  and  then  left  on  the  3rd  December  for  the 
Kongone.  It  was  hard  work  to  keep  the  vessel  afloat; 
indeed  we  never  expected  her  to  remain  above  water.  New 
leaks  broke  out  every  day ;  the  engine-pump  gave  way ;  the 
bridge  broke  down ;  three  compartments  filled  at  night ; 
except  the  cabin  and  front  compartment  all  was  flooded; 
and  in  a  few  days  we  were  assured  by  Rowe  that  "  she  can't 
be  worse  than  she  is,  sir."  He  and  Hutchins  had  spent  much 
of  their  time,  while  we  were  away,  in  patching  her  bottom, 
puddling  it  with  clay,  and  shoring  it,  and  it  was  chiefly  to 
please  them  that  we  again  attempted  to  make  use  of  her. 
We  had  long  been  fully  convinced  that  the  steel  plates  were 
thoroughly  unsuitable.  On  the  morning  of  the  2l8t  the 
uncomfortable  "Asthmatic"  grounded  on  a  sandbank  and 
filled.  She  could  neither  be  emptied  nor  got  off.  The  river 
rose  during  the  night,  and  all  that  was  visible  of  the  worn-out 
craft  next  day  was  about  six  feet  of  her  two  masts.  Most  of  the 
property  we  had  on  board  was  saved ;  and  we  spent  the  Christ- 
mas of  1860  encamped  on  the  island  of  Chimba.  Canoes  vere 
sent  for  from  Senna ;  and  we  reached  it  on  the  27th,  to  be 
again  hospitably  entertained  by  our  friend,  Senhor  Ferrik). 

A  large  party  of  slaves,  belonging  to  the  Commandant, 
after  having  been  away  the  greater  part  of  a  year,  had  just 


Chap.  XYIL        DEARNESS  OF  SLAVE  LABOUR.  339 

returned  from  a  trading  expedition  to  Moselekatse's  country. 
They  had  taken  in-Iand  a  thousand  muskets  and  a  large 
quantity  of  gunpowder;  these  being,  they  said,  the  only 
articles  Moselekatse  cares  to  purchase.  They  started  on 
their  journey  back,  with  ivory,  ostrich  feathers,  a  thousand 
sheep  and  goats,  and  thirty  head  of  fine  cattle.  Moselekatse 
sent,  in  addition,  as  a  token  that  the  traders  and  he  had 
parted  good  friends,  a  splendid  white  bull  to  the  Comman- 
danl  The  ostrich  feathers  had  been  packed  in  reeds,  a  fire 
broke  out  in  the  camp  one  night,  and  most  of  them  were 
burned.  On  their  way  the  cattle  had  to  pass  through  a 
tsetse  country,  and  they  all  died  from  the  effects  of  the  bite. 
The  white  bull  perished  within  two  days  of  Senna;  six 
hundred  of  the  sheep  and  goats  had  been  eaten,  either 
because  they  became  lame,  or  because  the  drivers  were 
hungry.  The  Commandant  having  an  attack  of  fever  was 
imable  to  calculate  his  losses,  but  intended  to  imprison  the 
slaves  who,  as  usual,  thought  more  of  their  own  comfort 
than  of  their  master's  gain.  Slave  labour  is  certainly  very 
dear;  for  an  Englishman  with  two  wagons  and  ten  people 
could  have  made  a  more  profitable  trip  to  Moselekatse's — 
firom  the  much  greater  distances  of  Natal  or  the  Cape — than 
was  made  by  these  hundreds  of  slaves. 

When  we  met  Sequasha,  he  confessed  to  having  already 
amassed  800  arrobas  or  25,600  lbs,  of  ivory,  the  most  of  it 
purchased  for  a  mere  trifle.  His  comrade  had  about  half  that 
amount,  or  12,800  lbs.  When  Sequasha  returned  to  Tette, 
in  the  following  year,  he  was  cast  into  prison  in  the  Foi-t.  He 
had  brought  down  several  tons  of  ivory,  and  was  soon  a  free 
man  again.  The  ostensible  reason  for  his  imprisonment  was 
the  disorders  he  had  been  guilty  of  in  the  interior ;  but  this 
was  only  like  the  customary  manipulation  by  which,  in  pisci- 
culture, the  salmon  is  made  to  yield  her  spawn,  before  she 

z2 


340  THE  BTTEIi  BIT.  Chap.  XVII. 

swims  off  a  free  light  fish  again.  We  do  not  envy  the  position 
of  the  colonist  in  these  Portuguese  convict  settlements.  But 
we  do  regret  that  our  own  countrymen  of  the  Cape  are 
prevented,  by  an  unwise  policy,  from  carrying  their  free- 
dom and  love  of  fair  play  into  the  country  which  is,  so  &r 
as  discovery  goes,  by  right  their  own.  And  we  may  be 
permitted  to  record  our  heartfelt  sorrow,  that  Eobert  Moffat, 
the  son  of  the  celebrated  Missionary,  was  so  soon  cut  off  in 
the  midst  of  his  days,  and  at  the  commencement  of  his  noble 
endeavours  to  carry  lawful  commerce  into  all  the  interior. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  our  Cape  friends  to  know  that, 
notwithstanding  their  occasionally  laudable  growling  about 
the  fickleness  of  Kaffir  labourers,  such  labourers  are  much 
better  than  slaves.    The  coal  here,  as  we  have  mentioned,  lies 
quite  exposed  in  cliff  sections,  in  the  sides  of  streams,  which 
could  easily  be  made  available  for  carriage  by  lighters. 
A  small  vessel,  exactly  like  the  Ma-Kobert,  was  sent  out  by 
Don  Pedro  V.  for  the  navigation  of  the  Zambesi ;  and  orders 
were  forwarded  to  Tette  to  have  a  supply  of  coal  ready  for 
her  from  the  seam  at  which  we  had  supplied  our  vessel.    This 
order  was  carried  out  by  slaves  ;  and  from  information  sup- 
plied to  us  by  the  officer  who  superintended  this  easy  mining 
operation,  we  found  that  the  mineral  cost  1?.  per  ton,  or  at 
least  twice  as  much  as  it  does  by  free  labour  at  the  pit's 
mouth  in  England.    Indeed,  it  would  have  been  more  expen- 
sive, if  taken  to  the  river's  mouth,  than  coal  brought  by  sea 
round  the  Cape  to  India.    The  facts  mentioned  showed  that 
the  chief  expense  incurred  was  in  the  food  required  by  the 
slaves.    The  wages  allowed  in  the  calculation  to  the  masters 
were  very  small.    Coal  from  the  mines  at  Tette,  according 
to  the  present  system  of  labour,  could  not  be  delivered  at 
Kongone  much  under  10/.  per  ton.    The  contrast  is  more 
strikiiig  if  we  remember  the  great  depth  at  which  the  coal 


Chap.  XVIL  REACH  THE  KONGONE.  341 

in  England  is  obtained.  We  saw  the  vessel  referred  to  above, 
lying  in  Mosambique  harbour  in  1864 ;  it  had  not  been  used 
for  the  purpose  it  was  sent  out  for,  though  it  had  been  nearly 
three  years  there.  What  a  howl  would  have  rung  through 
the  Cape  Colony,  if  our  Governor  there  had  kept  a  vessel, 
sent  from  Eiu^pe  for  the  development  of  the  colonial  trade, 
for  his  Excellency's  own  amusement  I 

We  reached  the  Kongone  on  the  4th  of  January,  1861.  A 
flagstaff  and  a  Custom-house  had  been  erected  during  our 
absence;  a  hut,  also,  for  a  black  lance-corporal  and  threo 
privates.  By  the  kind  permission  of  the  lance-corporal,  who 
came  to  see  us  as  soon  as  he  had  got  into  his  trousers  and 
shirt,  we  took  up  our  quarters  in  the  Custom-house,  which, 
like  the  other  buildings,  is  a  small  square  floorless  hut  of 
mangrove  stakes  overlaid  with  reeds.  The  soldiers  com- 
plained of  hunger,  they  had  nothing  to  eat  but  a  little  mapira, 
and  were  making  palm  wine  to  deaden  their  cravings.  While 
waiting  for  a  ship,  we  had  leisure  to  read  the  newspapers  and 
periodicals  we  found  in  the  mail  which  was  waiting  our 
arrival  at  Tette.    Several  were  a  year  and  a  half  old. 

Our  provisions  began  to  run  short ;  and  towards  the  end 
of  the  month  there  was  nothing  left  but  a  little  bad  biscuit 
and  a  few  ounces  of  sugar.  Coffee  and  tea  were  expended, 
but  scarcely  missed,  as  our  sailors  discovered  a  pretty  good 
substitute  in  roasted  mapira.  Fresh  meat  was  obtained  in 
abundance  from  our  antelope  preserves  on  the  large  island 
made  by  a  creek  between  the  Kongone  and  East  Luabo. 

Large  herds  of  waterbuck  {Aiffocertis  ellipnprymnus)  feed 
there  on  the  grassy  plains ;  when  they  desire  fresh  pasture 
they  wait  on  the  bank  till  the  tide  is  low,  and  then  swim  the 
creeks,  half  a  mile  or  more,  with  the  greatest  ease.  These 
animals  are  difficult  to  Idll,  and  seem  at  times  to  have  as 
many  lives  as  a  cat.    A  shot  in  the  neck  is  generally  fatal. 


342  HERDS  OF  WATERBUCK.  Chap.  XVII. 

but  they  have  frequently  gone  off,  as  if  unhurt,  with  two  or 
three  Enfield  bullets  in  the  lungs  or  other  parts  of  the  body. 
The  lungs  seemed  to  have  numerous  fibrous  septa  running 
into  their  substance,  so  as  to  form  a  congeries  of  small  lobes, 
one  of  which  might  be  wounded  without  much  injury  to  the 
others;  but  while  trying  to  find  in  this  an  explanation  of 
the  fact  that  a  wound  in  the  lungs  of  waterbucks  did  not 
Idll,  we  never  had  the  means  and  time  for  careful  dissection. 
A  fine  male  ran  full  speed  upwards  of  two  hundred  yards 
with  part  of  the  heart  blown  out  by  a  Jacob's  shell.     It  was 
hoped  that  Jacob's  shells  would  put  animals  out  of  pain  at 
once ;  but  from  exploding  on  a  bone  near  the  skin,  or  even 
on  the  skin^  they  were  found  not  to  answer  our  expectations. 
The  Enfield  ball,  too,  though  propelled  with  prodigious  veJo- 
city,  is  much  too  small  to  prove  speedily  fatal;  the  large 
two-ounce  round  bullet  is  the  best  of  all,  if  it  is  well  driven 
home.    Near  the  sea  the  meat  of  the  waterbuck  is  always 
juicy  and  well-flavoured,  reminding  one  of  beef;  but  in  the 
interior  the  flesh  of  the  same  kind  of  antelope  is  so  dry  and 
tough,  that  at  last  even  our  black  men,  though  far  from 
being  fastidious,  refused  to  eat  it ;  and  we  gave  up  shooting 
antelopes  there  altogether.    It  is  said  to  be  a  well-attested 
fact  that  the  flesh  of  the  sheep  of  the  island  of  Halki  is  highly 
esteemed,  and  has  a  delicious  flavour,  in  consequence,  it  is  be- 
lieved, of  the  animals  drinking  salt-water  only.     The  vegetar 
tion  here  has  usually  a  quantity  of  fine  salt  in  efflorescence 
on  it,  and  much  of  the  water  is  brackish.    The  excellence  of 
the  flesh  may  in  this  case  also,  perhaps,  be  attributed  ^to  the 
salt.    It  was  only  after  partaking  of  it  in  the  interior,  that  we 
understood  why  Captain  Harris  had  so  low  an  opinion  of  it 

The  reedbuck  {Bedunca  deotroffua)  commonly  lies  dose  iu 
the  long  grass  during  the  extreme  heat  of  the  day,  and  wiuts 
till  the  hunter  is  near,  before  bounding  off  and  uttering  its 


Chap.  XVn.  THE  BUSHBUCK.  343 

whistle  of  alarm.  A  better  acquaintance  with  the  habits  of 
animab  might  aid  in  their  division  into  groups,  as  they  appear 
in  nature^  on  the  hills^  plains,  and  marshes.  The  koodoo,  pallah, 
blackbuck  of  kualata,  klipspringer  or  kololo,  are  generally  seen 
on  the  hills,  and,  when  pursued,  flee  to  them  for  safety.  The 
gemsbuck  or  kukama,  kama,  tsessebe,  gnu,  eland,  puti  or  diver, 
steinbuck,  giraffe,  nuni  or  blesbuck,  springbuck  or  tsepe,  and 
ourebi,  are  always  on  the  plains ;  while  the  waterbuck,  reed- 
buck,  lechwe,  poku,  nakong,  and  bushbuck  inhabit  swampy 
places,  and  flee  to  waters  or  swamps  for  protection. 

In  the  mornings  and  evenings  the  pretty-spotted  bushbuck 
(Tragelaphus  sylvatica)  ventures,  though  only  a  short  distance, 
out  of  the  mangroves,  to  feed.  When  startled,  its  call  of 
danger  is  a  loud  bark,  the  imitation  of  which  is  its  name 
among  most  of  the  native  tribes — "mpabala,"  "mpsware." 
The  waterbuck  keeps  the  open  plains,  and  seldom  lies  down 
during  the  day.  On  clear  windy  days  all  the  game  are 
extremely  wild  and  wary,  and  can  only  be  stalked  with  the 
greatest  difficulty ;  while  in  still,  sultry  weather,  they  may 
be  approached  with  ease. 

A  few  leopards  {Felis  leopardus),  called  "tigre"  by  the 
Portuguese,  and  troops  of  a  green  monkey  called  "  pusi,"  find 
food  and  shelter  among  the  mangroves.  The  hunting  leopard, 
{FeUsjubata)  with  small  round  black  spots,  we  never  saw. 

In  this  focus  of  decaying  vegetation,  nothing  is  so  much  to 
be  dreaded  as  inactivity.  We  had,  therefore,  to  find  what 
exercise  and  amusement  we  could,  when  hunting  was  not 
required,  in  peering  about  in  the  fetid  swamps ;  to  have 
gone  mooning  about,  in  listless  idleness,  would  have  ensured 
fever  in  its  worst  form,  and  probably  with  fatal  results. 

A  curious  little  blenny-fish  swarms  in  the  numerous  creeks 
which  intersect  the  mangrove  topes.  When  alarmed,  it 
hurries  across  the  surface  of  the  water  in  a  series  of  leaps.     It 


344  THE  BLENNY-FISH.  Chap.  XVIL 

may  be  considered  amphibious^  as  it  lives  as  much  out  of  the 
water  as  in  it»  and  its  most  busy  time  is  during  low  water. 
Then  it  appears  on  the  sand  or  mud,  near  the  little  pools 
left  by  the  retiring  tide;  it  raises  itself  on  its  pectoral 
fins  into  something  of  a  standing  attitude,  and  with  its  large 
^projecting  eyes  keeps  a  sharp  look-out  for  the  light-coloured 
fly,  on  which  it  feeds.  Should  the  fly  alight  at  too  great 
a  distance  for  even  a  second  leap,  the  blenny  moves  slo^y 
towards  it  like  a  cat  to  its  prey,  or  like  a  jumping  spider ; 
and,  as  soon  as  it  gets  within  two  or  three  inches  of  the 
insect,  by  a  sudden  spring  contrives  to  pop  its  underset 
mouth  directly  over  the  unlucky  victim.  He  is,  moreover, 
a  pugnacious  little  fellow ;  and  rather  prolonged  fights  may 
be  observed  between  him  and  his  brethren.  One,  in  fleeing 
from  an  apparent  danger,  jumped  into  a  pool  a  foot  square, 
which  the  other  evidently  regarded  as  his  by  right  of  prior 
discovery  ;  in  a  twinkling  the  owner,  with  eyes  flashing  fury 
and  with  dorsal  fin  bristling  up  in  rage,  dashed  at  the  intrud- 
ing foe.  The  fight  waxed  furious,  no  tempest  in  a  teapot 
ever  equalled  the  storm  of  that  miniature  sea.  The  warriors 
were  now  in  the  water,' and  anon  out  of  it,  for  the  battle 
raged  on  sea  and  shore.  They  struck  hard,  they  bit  each 
other ;  until,  becoming  exhausted,  they  seized  each  other  by 
the  jaws  like  two  bull-dogs,  then  paused  for  breath,  and  at 
it  again  as  fiercely  as  before,  until  the  combat  ended  by 
the  precipitate  retreat  of  the  invader. 

The  muddy  ground  under  the  mangrove-trees  is  covered 
with  soldier-crabs,  which  quickly  slink  into  their  holeis  on  any 
symptom  of  danger.  When  the  ebbing  tide  retires, 
myriads  of  minute  crabs  emerge  from  their  undergound 
quarters,  and  begin  to  work  like  so  many  busy  bees. 
Soon  many  miles  of  the  smooth  sand  become  rough  with 
the  results   of  their   labour.     They    are  toiling  for  their 


Chap.  XVn.  HAEMONIOUS  CRABS.  345 

daily  bread :  a  round  bit  of  moist  sand  appears  at  the 
little  labourer's  mouth,  and  is  quickly  brushed  off  by  one 
of  the  claws ;  a  second  bit  follows  the  first ;  and  another, 
and  still  another  come  as  fast  as  they  can  be  laid  aside.  As 
these  pellets  accumulate,  the  crab  moves  sideways,  and  the 
work  continues.  The  first  impression  one  receives  is,  that 
the  little  creature  has  swallowed  a  great  deal  of  sand,  and  is 
getting  rid  of  it  as  speedily  as  possible :  a  habit  he  indulges 
in  of  darting  into  his  hole  at  intervals,  as  if  for  fresh  sup- 
plies, tends  to  strengthen  this  idea ;  but  the  size  of  the  heaps 
formed  in  a  few  seconds  shows  that  this  cannot  be  the  case, 
and  leads  to  the  impression  that,  although  not  readily  seen, 
at  the  distance  at  which  he  chooses  to  keep  the  observer, 
yet  that  possibly  he  raises  the  sand  to  his  mouth,  where 
whatever  animalcule  it  may  contain  is  sifted  out  of  it^  and 
the  remainder  rejected  in  the  manner  described.  At  times  the 
larger  species  of  crabs  perform  a  sort  of  concert ;  and  from 
each  subterranean  abode  strange  sounds  arise,  as  if,  in  imita- 
tion of  the  songsters  of  the  groves,  for  very  joy  they  sang ! 
The  wart-hogs  (Phacoc?iceru8  Africanus),  seem  to  be  rather 
partial  to  these  large,  sound-producing  crabs ;  they  dig  them 
out  of  the  muddy  swamps  during  the  night,  and  devour  them. 
Shoals  of  small  fish  abound  in  the  shallows  between  the 
Kongone  and  the  land,  Nyangalule,  and  this  is  the  favourite 
fishing-station  of  a  large  flock  of  pelicans,  during  the  months 
they  remain  on  the  coast.  These  birds  destroy  an  immense 
number  of  fish ;  they  breed  in  April  on  the  low  island  off 
Kongone,  and  also  on  that  off  East  Luabo.  The  eggs,  of 
which  we  got  a  good  supply,  are  so  fishy  in  taste,  that 
anchovy  sauce  is  necessary  to  render  them  palatable.  At 
Luabo  Island,  the  turtles  come  at  stated  times  to  lay  their 
e^s,  which  have  a  tough  membrane  instead  of  a  shell,  and 
are  pleasant  in  flavour. 


346  BUSUNGU.  Chap.  XVIL 

Tbe  mangrove  itself  is  worth  examining ;  and  Dr.  Eirk 
found  it,  and  trees  and  plants  brought  from  a  distance  and 
stranded  on  these  shores,  an  interesting  and  instructive  study. 
One  species  of  mangrove  stands,  at  ebb  tide,  on  its  fantastic 
roots,  raised  high  above  the  ground,  while,  at  flood  tide,  the 
trunk  seems  as  if  planted  on  the  sur&ce  of  the  water.  Ano- 
ther has  flat,  broad,  tortuous  roots,  placed  on  edge  in  the 
mud,  so  as  to  give  it,  even  on  that  soft  substance,  a  firm 
foundation  to  stand  upon.  The  seeds  of  one  species  are 
formed  somewhat  like  arrow-heads,  and,  in  falling,  are  bj 
their  own  weight  shot  into  the  soft  ground,  and  self-planted. 
Another  fruit  nearly  as  large  as  a  child's  head,  of  no  use,, 
as  far  as  we  can  guess,  to  man  or  beast,  splits  into  pieces 
when  it  drop&  The  wood,  however,  makes  excellent  fuel, 
and  possesses  the  valuable  quality  of  burning  freely  in  the 
furnace,  even  when  green.  It  also  makes  capital  rafters, 
which,  from  their  straightness  and  length,  are  much  esteemed 
by  the  Portuguese. 

We  found  some  natives  pounding  the  woody  stems  of  a 
poisonous  climbing-plant  (IHrca  palmtris)  called  Busungu,  or 
poison,  which  grows  abundantly  in  the  swamps.  When  a  good 
quantity  was  bruised,  it  was  tied  up  in  bundles.  The  stream 
above  and  below  was  obstructed  with  bushes,  and  with  a  sort  of 
rinsing  motion  the  poison  was  diffused  through  the  water. 
Many  fish  were  soon  affected,  swam  in  shore,  and  died,  others 
were  only  stupified.  The  plant  has  pink,  pea-shaped  blossoms, 
and  smooth,  pointed,  glossy  leaves,  and  the  brown  bark  is 
covered  with  minute  white  points.  The  knowledge  of  it 
might  prove  of  use  to  a  shipwrecked  party  by  enabling  them 
to  catch  the  fish. 

The  poison  is  said  to  be  deleterious  to  man  if  the  water  is 
drunk ;  but  not  when  the  fish  is  cooked.  The  Busungu  is 
repulsive  to  some  insects,  and  is  smeared  round  the  shoots  of 


Chap.  XVII.  SEVERE  GALES.  347 

the  palm-trees  to  prevent  the  ants  from  getting  into  the 
pahn  wine  while  it  is  dropping  fix)ni  the  tops  of  the  palm* 
trees  into  the  little  pots  suspended  to  collect  it. 

We  were  in  the  habit  of  walking  from  our  beds  into  the 
salt  water  at  sunrise,  for  a  bath,  till  a  large  crocodile  appeared 
at  the  bathing  place,  and  irom  that  time  forth,  we  took  our 
dip  in  the  sea,  away  from  the  harbour,  about  midday.  This 
is  said  to  be  unwholesome,  but  we  did  not  find  it  so.  It  is 
certainly  better  not  to  bathe  in  the  mornings,  when  the  air 
is  colder  than  the  water — for  then,  on  returning  to  the 
cooler  air,  one  is  apt  to  get  a  chill  and  fever.  In  the  mouth 
of  the  river,  many  saw-fish  are  found.  Bowe  saw  one  while 
bathing — caught  it  by  the  tail,  and  shoved  it,  '*  snout  on," 
ashore.  The  saw  is  from  a  foot  to  eighteen  inches  long.  We 
never  heard  of  any  one  being  wounded  by  this  fish ;  nor, 
though  it  goes  hundreds  of  miles  up  the  river  in  fresh  water, 
could  we  learn  that  it  was  eaten  by  the  people.  The  hippo- 
potami delighted  to  spend  the  day  among  the  breakers,  and 
seemed  to  enjoy  the  fun  as  much  as  we  did. 

Severe  gales  occurred  during  our  stay  on  the  Coast,  and 
many  small  sea-birds  (Prion  Bankm,  Smith)  perished :  the 
beach  was  strewn  with  their  dead  bodies,  and  some  were  foimd 
hundreds  of  yards  inland ;  many  were  so  emaciated  as  to  dry 
up  without  putrefying.  We  were  plagued  with  myriads  of 
mosquitoes,  and  had  some  touches  of  fever;  the  men  we 
brought  from  malarious  regions  of  the  intarior  suffered 
almost  as  much  from  it  here,  as  we  did  ourselves.  This  gives 
strength  to  the  idea  that  the  civiUzed  Mrithstand  the  evil  in- 
fluences of  strange  climates  better  than  the  uncivilized.  When 
n^roes  return  to  their  own  country  from  healthy  lands,  they 
suffer  as  severely  as  foreigners  ever  do. 


348  BISHOP  MACKENZIE.  Chap.  SYni. 


CHAPTER  XVIIL 

Arrival  of  Pioneer  —  Mission  Staff  taken  to  Johanna — Biahc^  Mackeniie  joina 
the  Expedition  np  the  Rovmna  —  Fall  of  water  — Betom  to  Oomoro — 
Johanna — Aaoent  of  the  Shire  —  Pioneer  draws  too  mnch  water — Gbariea 
Livingstone  labours  to  stimulate  cotton  culture — Want  of  agents  on  East 
Coast  compared  to  West  Coast  —  England's  labours  there  —  Their  value — 
Expedition  eminently  successful  —  Turning-point  of  success — Slaves  rescued 
—  The  Bishop  accepts  the  Chiefs  invitation  to  Magomero — Visit  to  ihe 
Ajawa,  well-meant,  ill-taken  —  Stand  at  bay  —  Betreat  of  the  A^wa  — 
Bishop  Mackenzie's  Mission  at  Magomero — Extent  of  Dr.  Livingstone's  te- 
i^nsibility  —  Return  to  the  ship. 

On  the  Slat  January,  1861,  our  new  ship,  "  The  Pioneer," 
arriyed  from  England,  and  anchored  outside  the  bar;  but  the 
weather  was  stormy,  and  she  did  not  venture  in  till  the  4th 
of  February. . 

Two  of  H.M.  cruisers  came  at  the  same  time,  bringing 
Bishop  Mackenzie,  and  the  Oxford  and  Cambridge  Mission  to 
the  tribes  of  the  Shire  and  Lake  Nyassa.  The  Mission  con- 
sisted of  six  Englishmen,  and  five  coloured  men  from  the  Cape. 
It  was  a  puzzle  to  know  what  to  do  with  so  many  men.  The 
estimable  Bishop,  anxious  to  commence  his  work  without  delay, 
wished  the  Pioneer  to  carry  the  Mission  up  the  Shire,  as 
far  as  Chibisa's,  and  there  leave  them.  But  there  were 
grave  objections  to  this.  The  Pioneer  was  under  orders  to 
explore  the  Eovuma,  as  the  Portuguese  Government  had  re- 
fused to  open  the  Zambesi  to  the  ships  of  other  nations,  and 
their  officials  were  very  effectually  pursuing  a  system,  which, 
by  abstracting  the  labour,  was  rendering  the  country  of  no 
value  either  to  foreigners  or  to  themselves.  She  was  already 
two  months  behind  her  time,  aiid  the  rainy  season  was  half  over. 
Then,  if  the  party  were  taken  to  Chibisa's,  the  Mission  would  be 


Chap.  XVIH.  SCENERY  ON  THE  ROVUMA.  34  f> 

left  without  a  medical  attendant,  in  an  unhealthy  region, 
at  the  heginning  of  the  most  sickly  season  of  the  year,  and 
without  means  of  reaching  the  healthy  highlands,  or  of  re- 
turning to  the  sea.  We  dreaded  that  in  the  absence  of  medical 
aid,  and  all  knowledge  of  the  treatment  of  feyer,  there  might 
be  a  repetition  of  the  sorrowful  fate  which  befell  the  similar 
non-medical  Mission  at  Linyanti.  It  was  well  that  we 
objected  so  strongly,  for  we  afterwards  found  that  the  Bishop) 
had  purchased  our  fever  pills  at  the  Cape,  which  must 
have  been  made  of  dirt  instead  of  drugs.  The  Bishop 
at  last  consented  to  proceed  in  the  Lyra  man-of-war  to 
Johanna,  and  there  leave  the  members  of  the  Mission  ^vith 
H.M.'s  Consul,  Mr.  Sunley,  while  he  himself  should  ac- 
company us  up  the  Eovuma,  in  order  to  ascertain  whether 
the  country  round  its  head- waters,  which  were  reported  to  flow 
out  of  Nyassa,  was  a  suitable  place  for  a  settlement. 

On  the  25th  of  February  the  Pioneer  anchored  in  the  mouth 
of  the  Eovuma,  which,  unlike  most  African  rivers,  has  a  mag- 
nificent bay  and  no  bar.  We  wooded,  and  then  waited  for  the 
Bishop  till  the  9th  of  March,  when  he  came  in  the  Lyra.  On 
the  11th  we  proceeded  up  the  river,  and  saw  that  it  had  fallen 
four  or  five  feet  during  our  detention.  The  scenery  on  the  lower 
part  of  the  Bovuma  is  superior  to  that  on  the  Zambesi,  for 
we  can  see  the  highlands  from  the  sea.  Eight  miles  from  the 
mouth  the  mangroves  are  left  behind,  and  a  beautiful  range  of 
well- wooded  hiUs  on  each  bank  begins.  On  these  ridges  the 
tree  resembling  African  blackwood,  of  finer  grain  than  ebony, 
grows  abundantly,  and  attains  a  large  size.  Few  people  were 
seen,  and  those  were  of  Arab  breed,  and  did  not  appear  to  be 
very  well  oS.  The  current  of  the  Bovuma  was  now  as  strong 
as  that  of  the  Zambesi,  but  the  volume  of  water  is  very  much 
less.  Several  of  the  crossings  had  barely  water  enough  for  our 
ship,  drawing  five  feet,  to  pass.    When  we  were  thirty  miles  up 


350  FEVER  ON  BOARD.  Chap.  XVm. 

the  river,  the  water  fell  suddenly  seven  inches  in  twenty-four 
hours.  As  the  March  flood  is  the  last  of  the  season,  and  it 
appeared  to  be  expended,  it  was  thought  prudent  to  avoid 
the  chance  of  a  year's  detention,  by  getting  the  ship  back  to 
the  sea  without  delay.  Had  the  Expedition  been  alone,  we 
would  have  pushed  up  in  boats,  or  afoot,  and  done  what  we 
could  towards  the  exploration  of  the  river  and  upper  end  of  tbe 
lake ;  but,  though  the  Mission  was  a  private  one,  and  entirely 
distinct  from  our  own,  a  public  one,  the  objects  of  both  being 
similar,  we  felt  anxious  to  aid  our  countrymen  in  their  noble 
enterprise;  and,  rather  than  follow  our  own  inclination, 
decided  to  return  to  the  Shire,  see  the  Mission  party  settled 
safely,  and  afterwards  explore  Lake  Nyassa  and  the 
Bovuma,  from  the  Lake  downwards.  Fever  broke  out  on 
board  the  Pioneer,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Bovuma,  as  we  thought 
from  our  having  anchored  close  to  a  creek  coming  out  of 
the  mangroves ;  and  it  remained  in  her  until  we  completely 
isolated  the  engine-room  from  the  rest  of  the  ship.  The  coal- 
dust  rotting  sent  out  strong  efiQuvia,  and  kept  up  the  disease 
for  more  than  a  twelvemontL 

Soon  after  we  started,  the  fever  put  the  Pioneer  almost 
entirely  into  the  hands  of  the  original  Zambesi  Expedi- 
tion, and  not  long  afterwards  the  leader  had  to  navigate 
the  ocean  as  well  as  the  river.  The  habit  of  finding  the 
geographical  positions  on  land  renders  it  an  easy  task  to 
steer  a  steamer  with  only  three  or  four  sails  at  sea ;  where, 
if  one  does  not  run  ashore,  no  one  follows  to  find  out  an 
error  and  where  a  current  affords  a  ready  excuse  for  every 
blunder. 

Touching  at  Mohilla,  one  of  the  Comoro  Islands,  on  our 
returu,  we  found  a  mixed  race  of  Arabs,  Africans,  and 
their  conquerors,  the  natives  of  Madagascar.  Being  Ma- 
hometans, they  have  mosques  and  schools,  in  whidi  we  were 


Chap.  XVIII.      SHIP  DRAWS  TOO  MUCH  WATER.  351 

pleased  to  see  girls  as  well  as  boys  taught  to  read  the  Koran. 
•  The  teacher  said  he  was  paid  by  the  job,  and  received  ten 
dollars  for  teaching  each  child  to  read.  The  clever  ones  learn 
in  six  months;  but  the  dull  ones  take  a  couple  of  years. 
We  next  went  over  to  Johanna  for  our  friends;  and, 
after  a  sojourn  of  a  few  days  at  the  beautiful  Comoro  islands, 
we  sailed  for  the  Kongone  mouth  of  the  Zambesi  with  Bishop 
Mackenzie  and  his  party.  We  reached  the  coast  in  seven 
days,  and  passed  up  the  Zambesi  to  the  Shire. 

The  Pioneer,  constructed  under  the  skilful  supervision  of 
Admiral  Sir  Baldwin  Walker  and  the  late  Admiral  Washing- 
ton, warm-hearted  and  highly  esteemed  friends  of  the  Expe- 
dition, was  a  very  superior  vessel,  and  well  suited  for  our 
work    in   every  respect,   except  in  her  draught  of  water. 
Five  feet  were  found  to  be  too  much  for  the  navigation 
of  the  upper  part  of  the  Shire.    Designed  to  draw  three 
feet  only,  the  weight  necessary  to  impart  extra  strength, 
and  fit  her  for   the    ocean,    brought   her  down   two  feet 
more,  and  caused  us  a  great  deal  of  hard  and  vexatious 
work,  in  laying  out  anchors,  and  toiling  at  the  capstan  to  get 
her  oflf  sandbanks.    We  should  not  have  minded  this  much,  but 
for  the  heavy  loss  of  time  which  might  have  been  more  profit- 
ably, and  infinitely  more  pleasantly,  spent  in  intercourse  mth 
the  people,  exploring  new  regions,  and  otherwise  carrying  out 
ihe  objects  of  the  Expedition.     Once  we  were  a  fortnight  on 
a  bank  of  soft  yielding  sand,  having  only  two  or  three  inches 
less  water  than  the  ship  drew ;  this  delay  was  occasioned  by 
the  anchors  coming  home,  and  the  current  swinging  the  ship 
broadside  on  the  bank,  which,  immediately  on  our  touching, 
always  formed  behind  us.     We  did  not  like  to  leave  the  ship 
short  of  Chibisa's,  lest    the  crew  should  suflfer   from  the 
malaria  of  the  lowland  around;   and  it  would  have  been 
difficult  to  have  got  the  Mission  goods  carried  up.    We  were 


352  CULTURE  OP  COTTON.      Chap.  XTm. 

daily  visited  by  crowds  of  natives,  who  brought  us  abundance  of 
provisions  far  beyond  our  ability  to  consume.  In  hauling  the 
Pioneer  over  the  shallow  places,  the  Biidiop,  with  Horace 
Waller  and  Mr.  Scudamore,  were  ever  ready  and  anxious  to 
lend  a  hand,  and  worked  as  hard  as  any  on  board.  Had  our  fine 
little  ship  drawn  but  three  feet,  she  could  have  run  up  and  down 
the  river  at  any  time  of  the  year,  with  the  greatest  ease,  but, 
as  it  was,  having  once  passed  up  over  a  few  shallow  banks,  it 
was  impossible  to  take  her  down  again  until  the  river  rose  in 
December.  She  could  go  up  over  a  bank,  but  not  come  down 
over  it,  as  a  heap  of  sand  always  formed  instantly  astern, 
while  the  current  washed  it  away  fix>m  \mder  her  bows. 

From  the  period  of  our  second  entrance  among  the  tribes 
on  the  Shire,  Charles  Livingstone  had  very  zealously 
turned  his  energies  to  inducing  the  people  to  cultivate  cotton 
for  exportation.  The  Ma-Bobert  was  so  leaky  that  nothing 
more  could  be  done,  while  we  had  her,  than  purchase  small 
quantities  of  cleaned  cotton  and  yam  of  native  manufacture, 
to  be  submitted  to  our  friends  at  Manchester,  and  to  incul- 
cate the  probability  of  our  countrymen  coming  to  buy  as 
much  as  could  be  raised.  Much  of  what  we  bought  in  this 
way  was  inevitably  spoiled  by  the  wet  state  of  the  vessel;  but 
the  specimens  sent  home  were  pronounced  to  be  "the  very 
kind  of  cotton  most  needed  in  Lancashire,"  and  the  yam,  or 
rather  rove,  which  we  bought  at  about  a  penny  per  pound, 
excited  the  admiration  of  practical  manufacturers  there. 

Now  that  we  had  more  accommodation,  Charles  Living- 
stone pursued  the  same  system  of  attempting  to  turn  the 
industrial  energies  of  the  natives  to  good  account,  and  witli 
very  gratifying  success.  Cotton  was  bought,  and  cleaned 
with  cotton-gins,  and,  though  we  were  restricted  by  the  great 
draught  of  the  Pioneer  to  an  area  of  less  than  seven  miles,  in 
three  months  he  had  collected  300  lbs.  of  clean  cotton-wool. 


Chap.  XVIIL  WANT  OF  AGJINTS.  353 

at  less  than  a  penny  per  pound.  No  great  amount,  certainly, 
when  compared  with  the  thousands  of  bales  which  come  from 
other  countries;  but  still  sufficient  to  prove  that  cotton 
of  superior  quality  can  be  raised  by  native  labour  alone ; 
and  but  for  the  slave-trade,  which  soon  afterwards  swept  all 
these  people  away,  it  is  highly  probable,  that  in  a  few  years, 
the  free-labour  could  have  been  turned  to  account  in  the 
markets  of  the  world. 

It  was  never  intended  that  a  (Jovemment  Expedition 
should  become  a  mere  cotton  collecting  or  mercantile  specu- 
lation. We  ascertained  that  the  part  of  Africa  in  which 
we  laboured  was  pre-eminently  suited  for  the  better  varie- 
ties of  the  cotton-plant ;  that  two  species  of  excellent  cotton 
had  already  been  introduced,  and  so  widely  distributed  by 
the  natives  themselves,  as  to  render  new  seed  unnecessary, 
and  the  indigenous  kind  quite  an  exception  in  the  country. 
The  climate  and  soil  were  found  to  be  so  well  adapted  for 
raising  this  product,  that  no  danger  need  ever  be  appre- 
hended of  the  crops  being  cut  off  by  frosts ;  and,  from  all  we 
could  learn,  free-labour  was  as  available  here  as  it  is  in  any 
other  country  in  the  world.  But  a  mighty  want  was  felt  in 
the  entire  absence  of  those  blessings  which  England  has 
xmquestionably  conferred  on  the  West  Coast  There  were  none 
of  those  Christian  natives  that  can  be  numbered  by  thousands 
at  Sierra-Leone  and  elsewhere,  who,  whatever  defects  they 
may  have,  do  possess  the  qualification  of  being  trustworthy 
trade-agents  among  their  conntrymen.  Having  carefuUy 
examined  and  compared  both  Coasts,  and  making  allowance 
for  the  fact  that  perhaps  a  majority  of  those  on  whom 
English  benevolence  has  been  expended  have  been  the 
lowest  of  the  low — ^liberated  African  slaves, — and  likewise 
giving  all  due  weight  to  the  assertions  of  the  traders  who 
have  used  strong  language  to  express  their  injured  feelings 

2  A. 


354  SUCCESS  OP  THE  EXPEDITION.       Chap.  XVm. 

. 
in  being  prevented  from  using  the  people  as  brates,  we  mnst 

say  that  the  condnct  of  England  on  the  West  Coast  of  late 

years  deserves  the  world's  admiration.    Her  generosity  will 

appear  grand  in  the  eyes  of  posterity.    Here,  on  the  East 

Coast,  we  have  the  contrast.    No  trustworthy  agents  can  be 

employed;  no  education  has  been  imparted;  and  not  even 

slave  agents  can  be  sent  to  a  distance  except  on  the  promise 

of  plunder  and  rapine.    In  the  Mission  we  had  now  with  ns^ 

we  trusted  that  we  saw  the  dawn  of  a  better  system  for  both 

Portuguese  and  natives,  than  that  which  has  been  the  bane 

of  all  progress  for  ages  past 

The  Expedition,  in  spite  of  several  adverse  circumstances, 
was  up  to  this  point  eminently  successful  in  its  objects. 
As  will  be  afterwards  seen,  we  had  opened  a  cotton-field, 
which,  taking  in  the  Shire  and  Lake  Nyassa,  was  400  miles 
in  length.  We  had  gained  the  confidence  of  the  people 
wherever  we  had  gone ;  and,  supposing  the  Mission  of  tiie 
Universities  to  be  only  moderately  successful,  as  all  we  had 
previously  known  of  the  desire  of  the  natives  to  trade  had 
been  amply  confirmed,  a  perfectly  new  era  had  commenced 
in  a  region  much  larger  than  the  cotton-fields  of  the  Southern 
States  of  America. 

We  had,  however,  as  wiU  afterwards  be  seen,  arrived  at 
the  turning-point  of  our  prosperous  career,  and  soon  came 
into  contact  with  the  Portuguese  slave-trade;  and  let  any 
one  reflect  on  the  injury  that  any  country  sustains,  even  by 
laws  which  only  hamper  trade  and  free  conmiercial  inter- 
course, and  he  may  judge  how  utterly  destructive  to  all 
prosperity  that  system  must  be,  which  not  only  fosters 
internecine  wars,  but  renders  the  pursuit  of  agriculture 
perilous  in  times  of  peace. 

On  at  last  reaching  Chibisa's,  we  heard  that  there  was 
war  in  the  Manganja  country,  and  the  slave-trade  was  going 


Chap.  XVIH.  POOB  HAMLETS.  355 

on  briskly.  A  deputation  from  a  Ohief  near  Mount  Zomba  had 
just  passed  on  its  way  to  Chibisa,  who  was  in  a  distant  village^ 
to  implore  him  to  come  himself,  or  send  medicine,  to  drive 
off  the  Waiao,  Waiau,  or  Ajawa,  whose  marauding  parties  were 
desolating  the  land.  A  large  gang  of  recently  enslaved 
Manganja  crossed  the  river,  on  their  way  to  Tette,  a  few 
days  before  we  got  the  ship  up.  Chibisa's  deputy  was  civil, 
and  readily  gave  us  permission  to  hire  as  many  men  to  carry 
the  Bishop's  goods  up  to  the  hills  as  were  willing  to  go.  With 
a  sufficient  number,  therefore,  we  started  for  the  highlands 
on  the  15th  of  July,  to  show  the  Bishop  the  coimtry,  which, 
from  its  altitude  and  coolness,  was  most  suitable  for  a  station. 
Our  first  day's  march  was  a  long  and  fatiguing  one.  The  few 
hamlets  we  passed  were  poor,  and  had  no  food  for  our  men, 
and  we  were  obliged  to  go  on  till  4  p.m.,  when  we  entered 
the  smaU  village  of  Chipindu.  The  inhabitants  complained 
of  hunger,  and  said  they  had  no  food  to  sell,  and  no  hut  for 
us  to  sleep  in ;  but,  if  we  would  only  go  on  a  little  further,  we 
should  come  to  a  village  where  they  had  plenty  to  eat ;  but 
we  had  travelled  far  enough,  and  determined  to  remain  where 
we  were.  Before  sunset  as  much  food  was  brought  as  we 
cared  to  purchase,  and,  as  it  threatened  to  rain,  huts  were 
provided  for  the  whole  party. 

Next  forenoon  we  halted  at  the  village  of  our  old  friend 
Mbame,  to  obtain  new  carriers,  because  Chibisa's  men,  never 
before  having  been  hired,  and  not  having  yet  learned  to  trust 
us,  did  not  choose  to  go  further.  After  resting  a  little,  Mbame 
told  us  that  a  slave  party  on  its  way  to  Tette  would  presently 
pass  through  his  village.  "  Shall  we  interfere  ?"  we  inquired 
of  each  other.  •  We  remembered  that  all  our  valuable  private 
baggage  was  in  Tette,  which,  if  we  freed  the  slaves,  might, 
together  with  some  Government  property,  be  destroyed  in 
retaliation;   but  this  system  of  slave-hunters  dogging  us 

2  A  2 


356  KETREAT  OP  SLAVE-HUNTERS,       Chap.  XVIDL 

where  previously  they  durst  not  venture,  and,  on  pretence 
of  being  *'  our  children,"  setting  one  tribe  against  another, 
to  furnish  themselves  with  slaves,  would  so  inevitably  thwart 
all  the  efforts,  for  which  we  had  the  sanction  of  the  Portuguese 
Government,  that  we  resolved  to  run  all  risks,  and  put  a 
stop,  if  possible,  to  the  slave-trade,  which  had  now  followed 
on  the  footsteps  of  our  discoveries.  A  few  minutes  after 
Mbame  had  spoken  to  us,  the  slave  party,  a  long  line  of 
manacled  men,  women,  and  children,  came  wending  their 
way  round  the  hill  and  into  the  valley,  on  the  side  of  which 
the  village  stood.  The  black  drivers,  armed  with  muskets, 
and  bedecked  with  various  articles  of  finery,  marched  jauntily 
in  the  front,  middle,  and  rear  of  the  line ;  some  of  them 
blowing  exultant  notes  out  of  long  tin  horns.  They 
seemed  to  feel  that  they  were  doing  a  very  noble  things 
and  might  proudly  march  with  an  air  of  triumph.  But 
the  instant  the  fellows  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  Eng- 
lish, they  darted  off  like,  mad  into  the  forest;  so  £Eist, 
indeed,  that  we  caught  but  a  glimpse  of  their  red  caps 
and  the  soles  of  their  feet.  The  chief  of  the  party  alone 
remained ;  and  he,  from  being  in  front,  had  his  hand  tightly 
grasped  by  a  Makololo !  He  proved  to  be  a  well-known 
slave  of  the  late  Commandant  at  Tette,  and  for  some 
time  our  own  attendant  while  there.  On  asking  him  how  he 
obtained  these  captives,  he  replied,  he  had  bought  them ;  but 
on  our  inquiring  of  the  people  themselves  all,  save  four,  said 
they  had  been  captured  in  war.  While  this  inquiry  was  goings 
on,  he  bolted  too.  The  captives  knelt  down,  and,  in  their  way 
of  expressing  thanks,  clapped  their  hands  with  great  energy. 
They  were  thus  left  entirely  on  our  hands,  and  knives  were 
soon  busy  at  work  cutting  the  women  and  children  looee. 
It  was  more  difficult  to  cut  the  men  adrift,  as  each  had  his 
neck  in  the  fork  of  a  stout  stick,  six  or  seven  feet  long,  and 


Chap.  XVIIL  SLAVES  FREED.  357 

kept  in  by  an  iron  rod  which  was  riveted  at  both  ends  across 
the  throat.  With  a  saw,  luckily  in  the  Bishop's  baggage, 
one  by  one  the  men  were  sawn  out  into  freedom.  The 
women,  on  being  told  to  take  the  meal  they  were  carrying 
and  cook  breakfast  for  themselves  and  the  children,  seemed 
to  consider  the  news  too  good  to  be  true ;  but  after  a  little 
coaxing  went  at  it  with  alacrity,  and  made  a  capital  fire 
by  which  to  boil  their  pots  with  the  slave  sticks  and  bonds, 
their  old  acquaintances  through  many  a  sad  night  and 
weary  day.  Many  were  mere  children  about  five  years  of  age 
and  under.  One  little  boy,  with  the  simplicity  of  childhood, 
said  to  our  men,  *  The  others  tied  and  starved  us,  you  cut 
the  ropes  and  tell  us  to  eat ;  what  sort  of  people  are  you  ? — 
Where  did  you  come  from?"  Two  of  the  women  had  been 
shot  the  day  before  for  attempting  to  untie  the  thongs. 
This,  the  rest  were  told,  was  to  prevent  them  from  attempting 
to  escape.  One  woman  had  her  infant's  brains  knocked  out, 
because  she  could  not  carry  her  load  and  it.  And  a  man 
was  despatched  with  an  axe,  because  he  had  broken  down 
with  fatigue.  Self-interest  would  have  set  a  watch  over  the 
whole  rather  than  commit  murder;  but  in  this  traffic  we 
invariably  find  self-interest  overcome  by  contempt  of  human 
life  and  by  bloodthirstiness. 

The  Bishop  was  not  present  at  this  scene,  having  gone  to 
bathe  in  a  httle  stream  below  the  village ;  but  on  his  return  he 
warmly  approved  of  what  had  been  done ;  he  at  first  had  doubts, 
but  now  felt  that,  had  he  been  present,  ho  would  have  joined 
us  in  the  good  work.  Logic  is  out  of  place  when  the  question 
with  a  true-hearted  man  is,  whether  his  brother-man  is  to  be 
saved  or  not.  Eighty-four,  chiefly  women  and  children,  were 
liberated ;  and  on  being  told  that  they  were  now  free,  and 
might  go  where  they  pleased,  or  remain  with  us,  they  all  chose 
to  stay ;  and  the  Bishop  wisely  attached  them  to  his  Mission, 


368  PROCEED  TO  SOCHE'S.  Chap.  XVffl. 

to  be  educated  as  members  of  a  Christian  family.  In  this 
way  a  great  difficulty  in  the  commencement  of  a  Mission  was 
overcome.  Tears  are  usually  required  before  confidence  is 
so  tsiX  instilled  into  the  natives'  mind  as  to  induce  them,  young 
or  old,  to  submit  to  the  guidance  of  strangers  professing  to  be 
actuated  by  motives  the  reverse  of  worldly  wisdom,  and  inculcat- 
ing customs  strange  and  unknown  to  them  and  their  fathers. 

We  proceeded  next  morning  to  Soche's  with  our  liberated 
party,  the  men  cheerfully  carrying  the  Bishop's  goods.  As 
we  had  begun,  it  was  of  no  use  to  do  things  by  halves,  so 
eight  others  were  freed  in  a^^hamlet  on  our  path ;  but  a  party 
of  traders,  with  nearly  a  hundred  slaves,  fled  from  Soche's  on 
hearing  of  our  proceedings.  Dr.  Kirk  and  four  Makololo  fol- 
lowed them  with  great  energy,  but  they  made  dear  off  to  , 
Tette.  Six  more  captives  were  liberated  at  Mongazi's,  and  two 
slave-traders  detained  for  the  night,  to  prevent  them  £rom 
carrying  information  to  a  large  party  still  in  front.  Of  their  own 
accord  they  volunteered  the  information  that  the  Governor's 
servants  had  charge  of  the  next  party ;  but  we  did  not  dioose 
to  be  led  by  them,  though  they  offered  to  guide  us  to  his 
Excellency's  own  agents.  Two  of  the  Bishop's  black  men 
from  the  Cape,  having  once  been  slaves,  were  now  zealous 
emancipators,  and  volunteered  to  guard  the  prisoners  during 
the  night  So  anxious  were  our  heroes  to  keep  them  safe, 
that  instead  of  relieving  each  other,  by  keeping  watch 
and  watch,  both  kept  watch  together,  till  towards  four  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  when  sleep  stole  gently  over  them  botli; 
and  the  wakeful  prisoners,  seizing  the  opportunity,  escaped : 
one  of  the  guards,  perceiving  the  loss,  rushed  out  of  the  hut, 
shouting,  "They  are  gone,  the  prisoners  are  off,  and  they 
have  taken  my  rifle  with  them,  and  the  women  too !  Fire  t 
everybody  fire!"  The  rifle  and  the  women,  however,  were 
all  safe  enough,  the  slave-traders  being  only  too  glad  to 


Chap.  XVIH.    THE  BISHOP  INVITED  TO  MAGOMERO.  359 

escape  alone.  Fifty  more  slaves  were  freed  next  day  in 
another  village ;  and,  the  whole  party  being  stark-naked, 
cloth  enough  was  left  to  clothe  them,  better  probably  than 
they  had  ever  been  clothed  before.  The  head  of  this  gang, 
whom  we  knew  as  the  agent  of  one  of  the  principal  mer- 
chants of  Tette,  said  that  they  had  the  licence  of  the  Gover- 
nor for  all  they  did.  This  we  were  fully  aware  of  without 
his  stating  it.  It  is  quite  impossible  for  any  enterprise  to 
be  undertaken  there  without  the  Grovemor's  knowledge  and 
connivance. 

The  portion  of  the  highlands  which  the  Bishop  wished  to 
look  at  before  deciding  on  a  settlement,  belonged  to  Chiwawa 
or  Chibaba,  the  most  manly  and  generous  Manganja  Chief  we 
had  met  with  on  our  previous  journey.  On  reaching  Nsambo*s, 
ne€ir  Mount  Chiradzuru,  we  heard  that  Chibaba  was  dead,  and 
that  Chigunda  was  Chief  instead.  Chigunda,  apparently  of 
his  own  accord,  though  possibly  he  may  have  learnt  that  the 
Bishop  intended  to  settle  somewhere  in  the  country,  asked 
him  to  come  and  live  with  him  at  Magomero,  adding  that 
there  was  room  enough  for  both.  This  hearty  and  spontaneous 
invitation  had  considerable  rafluence  on  the  Bishop's  mind, 
and  seemed  to  decide  the  question.  A  place  nearer  the  Shire 
would  have  been  chosen,  had  he  expected  his  supplies  to  come 
up  that  river ;  but  the  Portuguese,  claiming  the  river  Shire, 
though  never  occupying  even  its  mouth,  had  closed  it, 
as  well  as  the  Zambesi. 

Our  hopes  were  turned  to  the  Kovuma,  as  a  fi^e  highway 
into  Lake  Nyassa  and  the  vast  interior.  A  steamer  was 
already  ordered  for  the  Lake,  and  the  Bishop,  seeing  the 
advantageous  nature  of  the  highlands  which  stretch  an 
immense  way  to  the  north,  was  more  anxious  to  be  near  the 
Lake  and  the  Eovuma,  than  the  Shire.  When  he  decided 
to  settle  at  Magomero,  it  was  thought  desirable,  to  prevent 


360  A  VILLAGE  BURNT.  Chap.  XVEL 

the  country  fix)m  being  depopulated,  to  visit  the  Ajawa  Chie^ 
and  to  try  and  persuade  him  to  give  up  his  slaving  and  kid- 
napping courses,  and  turn  the  energies  of  his  people  to  peace- 
ful pursuits. 

On  the  morning  of  the  22nd  we  were  informed  that  the 
Ajawa  were  near,  and  were  burning  a  village  a  few  miles  oft 
Leaving  the  rescued  slaves,  we  moved  oflF  to  seek  an  interview 
with  these  scourges  of  the  country.  On  our  way  we  met 
crowds  of  Manganja  fleeing  from  the  war  in  front.  These  poor 
fugitives  from  the  slave  hunt  had,  as  usual,  to  leave  all  the  • 
food  they  possessed,  except  the  little  they  could  carry  on  their 
heads.  We  passed  field  after  field  of  Indian  com  or  beans, 
standing  ripe  for  harvesting,  but  the  owners  were  away.  The 
villages  were  all  deserted:  one  where  we  breakfasted  two 
years  before,  and  saw  a  number  of  men  peacefully  weaving  * 
cloth,  and,  among  ourselves,  called  it  the  "Paisley  of  the 
hills,"  was  burnt ;  the  stores  of  com  were  poured  out  in  cart- 
loads, and  scattered  all  over  the  plain,  and  all  along  the  paths, 
neither  conquerors  nor  conquered  having  been  able  to  convey 
it  away.  About  two  o'clock  we  saw  the  smoke  of  burning 
villages,  and  heard  triumphant  shouts,  mingled  with  the 
wail  of  the  Manganja  women,  lamenting  over  their  slain. 
The  Bishop  then  engaged  us  in  fervent  prayer ;  and,  on  rising 
from  our  knees,  we  saw  a  long  line  of  Ajawa  warriors,  with 
their  captives,  coming  round  the  hill-side.  The  first  of  the 
returning  conquerors  were  entering  their  own  village  below, 
and  we  heard  women  welcoming  them  back  with  **lilliloo- 
ings."  The  Ajawa  headman  left  the  path  on  seeing  us,  and 
stood  on  an  anthill  to  obtain  a  complete  view  of  our  party. 
We  called  out  that  we  had  come  to  have  an  interview  with 
them,  but  some  of  the  Manganja  who  followed  us  shouted 
**  Our  Chibisa  is  come :"  Chibisa  being  well  known  as  a  great 
conjurer  and  general.    The  Ajawa  ran  off  yelling  and  scream- 


Chap.  XVIE.  VISIT  TO  THE  AJAWA.  361 

ing,  "Nkondo!  Nkondo!"  (War!  War!)  We  heard  the  words 
of  the  Manganja,  but  they  did  not  strike  us  at  the  moment 
as  neutralizing  all  our  assertions  of  peace.  The  captives 
threw  down  their  loads  on  the  path,  and  fled  to  the  hills :  and 
a  large  body  of  armed  men  came  running  up  from  the  village, 
and  in  a  few  seconds  they  were  all  around  us,  though  mostly 
concealed  by  the  projecting  rocks  and  long  grass.  In  vain 
we  protested  that  we  had  not  come  to  fight,  but  to  talk  with 
them.  They  woidd  not  listen,  having,  as  we  remembered 
afterwards,  good  reason,  in  the  cry  of  *'Our  Chibisa." 
Flushed  with  recent  victory  over  three  villages,  and  confident 
of  an  easy  triumph  over  a  mere  handful  of  men,  they  began 
to  shoot  their  poisoned  aiTOWS,  sending  them  with  great 
force  upwards  of  a  hundred  yards,  and  wounding  one  of  our 
followers  through  the  arm.  Our  retiring  slowly  up  the 
ascent  from  the  village  only  made  them  more  eager  to 
prevent  our  escape  ;  and,  in  the  belief  that  this  retreat  was 
evidence  of  fear,  they  closed  upon  us  in  bloodthirsty  fury. 
Some  came  within  fifty  yards,  dancing  hideously;  others 
having  quite  surrounded  us,  and  availing  themselves  of  the 
rocks  and  long  grass  hard  by,  were  intent  on  cutting  us  off, 
while  others  made  off  with  their  women  and  a  large  body  of 
slaves.  Four  were  armed  with  muskets,  and  we  were  obliged 
in  self-defence  to  return  their  fire  and  drive  them  off.  When 
they  saw  the  range  of  the  rifles,  they  very  soon  desisted,  and 
ran  away ;  but  some  shouted  to  us  from  the  hills  the  con- 
soling intimation,  that  they  would  follow,  and  kill  us  where 
we  slept.  Only  two  of  the  captives  escaped  to  us,  but 
probably  most  of  those  made  prisoners  that  day  fled  else- 
where in  the  confusion.  We  returned  to  the  village  which 
we  had  left  in  the  morning,  after  a  hungry,  fatiguing,  and 
most  unpleasant  day. 
Though  we  could  not  blame  ourselves  for  the  course  we  had 


362  visrr  OF  cmNSUNSE. ;        C3hap.  xvm. 

followed,  we  felt  sony  for  what  had  happened.  It  was  the 
first  time  we  had  ever  been  attacked  by  the  natives  or  come 
into  collision  with  them ;  though  we  had  always  taken  it  for 
granted  that  we  might  be  called  upon  to  act  in  self-defence, 
we  were  on  this  occasion  less  prepared  than  usual,  no  game 
having  been  expected  here.  The  men  had  only  a  single  round 
of  cartridge  each;  their  leader  .had  no  revolver,  and  the 
rifle  he  usually  fired  with  was  left  at  the  ship  to  save  it 
from  the  damp  of  the  season.  Had  we  known  better  the 
effect  of  slavery  and  murder,  on  the  temper  of  these  blood- 
thirsty marauders,  we  should  have  tried  messages  and  presents 
before  going  near  them. 

The  old  chief,  Chinsunse,  came  on  a  visit  to  us  next  day, 
and  pressed  the  Bishop  to  come  and  live  with  him.  ^'  Chi- 
gunda,"  he  said,  "  is  but  a  child,  and  the  Bishop  ought  to  live 
with  the  father  rather  than  with  the  child."  But  the  old  man's 
object  was  so  evidently  to  have  the  Mission  as  a  shield  against 
the  Ajawa,  that  his  invitation  was  declined.  While  begging 
us  to  drive  away  the  marauders,  that  he  might  live  in  peace, 
he  adopted  the  stratagem  of  causing  a  number  of  his  men 
to  rush  into  the  village,  in  breathless  haste,  with  the  news 
that  the  Ajawa  were  dose  upon  us.  And  having  been  re- 
minded that  we  never  fought,  unless  attacked,  as  we  were  the 
day  before,  and  that  we  had  come  among  them  for  the  purpose 
of  promoting  peace,  and  of  teaching  them  to  worship  the  Su- 
preme, to  give  up  selling  His  children,  and  to  cultivate  other 
objects  for  barter  than  each  other,  he  replied,  in  a  huff,  **  Then 
I  am  dead  already.** 

The  Bishop,  feeling,  as  most  Englishmen  would,  at  the 
prospect  of  the  people  now  in  his  charge  being  swept  off  into 
slavery  by  hordes  of  men-stealers,  proposed  to  go  at  once  to 
the  rescue  of  the  captive  Manganja,  and  drive  the  marauding 
Ajawa  out  of  the  country.    All  were  warmly  in  fevour  of  this. 


Chap.  XVm.  THE  BISHOP'S  DOUBTS,  363 

save  Dr,  Livingstone,  who  opposed  it  on  the  ground  that  it 
would  be  better  for  the  Bishop  to  wait,  and  see  the  effect 
of  the  check  the  slave-hunters  had  just  experienced.  The 
Ajawa  were  evidently  goaded  on  by  Portuguese  agents  from 
Tette,  and  there  was  no  bond  of  union  among  the  Man- 
ganja  on  which  to  work.  It  was  possible  that  the  Ajawa 
might  be  persuaded  to  something  better,  though,  fit)m  having 
long  been  in  the  habit  of  slaving  for  the  Quillimane  market, 
it  was  not  very  probable.  But  the  Manganja  could  easily  be 
overcome  piecemeal  by  any  enemy;  old  feuds  made  them 
glad  to  see  calamities  befall  their  next  neighbours.  We 
counselled  them  to  unite  against  the  common  enemies  of 
their  country,  and  added  distinctly  that  we  English  would  on 
no  account  enter  into  their  quarrels.  On  the  Bishop  inquir- 
ing whether,  in  the  event  of  the  Manganja  again  asking  aid 
against  the  Ajawa,  it  would  be  his  duty  to  accede  to  their 
request, — "  No,"  replied  Dr.  Livingstone,  "  you  will  be  op- 
pressed by  their  importunities,  but  do  not  interfere  in  native 
quarrels."  This  advice  the  good  man  honourably  mentions 
in  his  joumaL  We  have  been  rather  minute  in  relating  what 
occurred  during  the  few  days  of  our  connexion  with  the 
Mission  of  the  English  Universities,  on  the  hiUs,  because, 
the  recorded  advice  having  been  discarded,  blame  was  thrown 
on  Dr,  Livingstone's  shoidders,  as  if  the  Missionaries  had  no 
individual  responsibility  for  their  subsequent  conduct.  This, 
unquestionably,  good  Bishop  Mackenzie  had  too  much  manli- 
ness to  have  allowed  The  connexion  of  the  members  of  the 
Zambesi  Expedition,  with  the  acts  of  the  Bishop's  Mission, 
now  ceased,  for  we  returned  to  the  ship  and  prepared  for  our 
journey  to  Lake  Nyassa.  We  cheerfully,  if  necessary,  will 
bear  all  responsibility  up  to  this  point ;  and  if  the  Bishop 
afterwards  made  mistakes  in  certain  collisions  with  the 
slavers,  he  had  the  votes  of  all  his  party  with  him,  and 


364  THE  MISSION  STATION.  Chap.  XVm. 

those  who  best  knew  the  peculiar  ciFcumstances,  and  the 
loving  disposition  of  this  good-hearted  man,  will  blame  him 
least.  In  this  position,  and  in  these  circumstances,  we  left 
our  friends  at  the  Mission  Station. 

As  a  temporary  measure  the  Bishop  decided  to  place 
his  Mission  Station  on  a  small  promontory  formed  by  the 
windings  of  the  little,  clear  stream  of  Magomero,  which  was 
so  cold  that  the  limbs  were  quite  benumbed  by  washing 
in  it  in  the  July  mornings.  The  site  chosen  was  a  pleasant 
spot  to  the  eye,  and  completely  surrounded  by  stately, 
shady  trees.  It  was  expected  to  serve  for  a  residence,  till 
the  Bishop  had  acquired  an  accurate  knowledge  of  tlie  ad- 
jacent country,  and  of  the  politiccd  relations  of  the  people, 
and  could  select  a  healthy  and  commanding  situation,  as  a 
permanent  centre  of  Christian  civilization.  Everything  pro- 
mised fairly.  The  weather  was  delightful,  resembling  the 
pleasantest  part  of  an  English  summer;  provisions  poured 
in  very  cheap  and  in  great  abundance.  The  Bishop,  with 
characteristic  ardour,  commenced  learning  the  language,  Mr. 
Waller  began  building,  and  Mr.  Scudamore  improvised  a 
sort  of  infant  school  for  the  children,  than  which  there  is 
no  better  means  for  acquiring  an  unwritten  tongue. 


Chap.  XIX.  EAGER  OFFER  OF  SERVICES.  365 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Fresh  start  for  Lake  Nyassa  —  Garry  a  boat  past  the  cataracts  —  Humpbacked 
spokesman  —  Lakelet  Pamalombe  —  Indications  of  malaria  —  Lake  Nyassa 

—  Depth  —  Size  —  Shape  —  Bays  —  Mountains  and  storms  —  Crowds  of 
people  — Midge  cake  —  Fish,  sai^jika,  &c.  —  Apparent  laziness  of  the  people 

—  Torpidity  of  skin  —  Buaze  nets  —  Bark  doth — Beauty  a  la  '*  pelele  **  — 
Marenga*s  generosity  —  Horrors  of  inland  slaye-trade  —  Tliieves ;  the  first 
robbery  we  suffered  in  Africa — Native  graves — Mazitn  or  Zulus — Four 
days'  s^Muration  —  Bough  roads  —  Man's  enemy,  man  —  Our  Dice  Diviner 
vanishes ;  but  reappears  —  Elephants  —  Arabs  from  Katanga  —  Arab  geo- 
graphy of  Tanganyika  and  Nyassa  —  The  slave-trade  —  Heed  huts  in  papyrus 

—  Young  women  got  up  for  sale —  Sensible  old  woman  —  Meet  marauding 
Ajawa  at  Mikena's  —  Elephants'  athletic  sports. 

On  the  6th  of  August,  1861,  a  few  dajrs  after  returning 
firom  Magomero,  Drs.  Livingstone  and  Kirk,  and  Charles 
Lrdngstone  started  for  Nyassa  with  a  light  foui^oared  gig, 
a  white  sailor,  and  a  score  of  attendants.  We  hired  people 
along  the  path  to  cany  the  boat  past  the  forty  miles  of  the 
Murchison  Cataracts  for  a  cubit  of  cotton  cloth  a  day. 
This  being  deemed  great  wages,  more  than  twice  the  men 
required  eagerly  ofifered  their  services.  The  chief  diflSculty 
was  in  limiting  their  numbers.  Crowds  followed  us;  and, 
had  we  not  taken  down  in  the  morning  the  names  of  the 
porters  engaged,  in  the  evening  claims  would  have  been 
made  by  those  who  only  helped  during  the  last  ten  minutes 
of  the  journey.  The  men  of  one  village  carried  the  boat  to 
the  next,  and  all  we  had  to  do  was  to  tell  the  headman  that 
we  wanted  &esh  men  in  the  morning.  He  saw  us  pay  the 
first  party,  and  had  his  men  ready  at  the  time  appointed, 
so  there  was  no  delay  in  waiting  for  carriers.  They  often 
make  a  loud  noise  when  carrying  heavy  loads,  but  talking 


366  •  VILLAGE  CONTRASTS.  Chap.  XIX 

and  bawling  does  not  put  tliem  out  of  breath.  The  country 
was  rough  and  with  little  soil  on  it,  but  covered  with  grass 
and  open  forest.  A  few  small  trees  were  cut  down  to  dear 
a  path  for  our  shouting  assistants,  who  were  good  enough 
to  consider  the  boat  as  a  certificate  of  peaceM  intentions 
at  least  to  them.  Several  small  streams  were  passed,  the 
largest  of  which  were  the  Mukuru-Madse  and  Lesungwe. 
The  inhabitants  on  both  banks  were  now  civil  and  oblig- 
ing. Our  possession  of  a  boat,  and  consequent  power  of 
crossing  independently  of  the  canoes,  helped  to  develop 
their  good  manners,  which  were  not  apparent  on  our  pre- 
vious visit. 

There  is  often  a  surprising  contrast  between  neighbomv 
ing  villages.  One  is  well  oflF  and  thriving,  having  good  huts, 
plenty  of  food,  and  native  cloth ;  and  its  people  are  frank, 
trusty,  generous,  and  eager  to  sell  provisions ;  while  in  the 
next  the  inhabitants  may  be  ill-housed,  disobliging,  suspi- 
cious, ill  fed,  and  scantily  clad,  and  with  nothing  for  sale, 
though  the  land  around  is  as  fertile  as  that  of  their  wealthier 
neighbours.  We  followed  the  river  for  the  most  part  to 
avail  ourselves  of  the  still  reaches  for  sailing ;  but  a  com- 
paratively smooth  country  lies  farther  inland,  over  which  a 
good  road  could  be  made.  Some  of  the  five  main  cataracts 
are  very  grand,  the  river  falling  1200  feet  in  the  40  miles. 
After  passing  the  last  of  the  cataracts,  we  launched  our  boat 
for  good  on  the  broad  and  deep  waters  of  the  Upper  Shire, 
and  were  virtually  on  the  lake,  for  the  gentle  current  shows 
but  little  difierence  of  level.  The  bed  is  broad  and  deep, 
but  the  course  is  rather  tortuous  at  first,  and  makes  a  long 
bend  to  the  east  tiU  it  comes  within  five  or  six  miles  of 
the  base  of  Mount  Zomba.  The  natives  regarded  the  Upper 
Shire  as  a  prolongation  of  Lake  Nyassa ;  for  where  what  we 
called  the  river  approaches  Lake  Shirwa,  a  little  north  of 


Chap.  XIX.  HUMPBACKED  SPOKESMAN.  367 

the  mountains,  they  said  that  the  hippopotami,  "which  are 
great  night  travellers,"  pass  from  one  lake  into  the  other. 
There  the  land  is  flat,  and  only  a  short  land  journey  would 
be  necessary.  Seldom  does  the  current  here  exceed  a  knot 
an  hour,  while  that  of  the  Lower  Shire  is  from  two  to  two- 
and-a-half  knots.  Our  land  party  of  Makololo  accompanied 
us  along  the  right  bank,  and  passed  thousands  of  Manganja 
fugitives  living  in  temporary  huts  on  that  side,  who  had 
recently  been  driven  from  their  villages  on  the  opposite  hills 
by  the  Ajawa. 

The  soil  was  dry  and  hard,  and  covered  with  mopane-trees ; 
but  some  of  the  Manganja  were  busy  hoeing  the  ground  and 
planting  the  little  com  they  had  brought  with  them.  The 
eflfects  of  hunger  were  already  visible  on  those  whose  food  had 
been  seized  or  burned  by  the  Ajawa  and  Portuguese  slave- 
traders.  The  spokesman  or  prime  minister  of  one  of  the  Chiefs, 
named  Ealonjer^  was  a  humpbacked  dwarf,  a  fluent  speaker, 
who  tried  hard  to  make  us  go  over  and  drive  off  the  Ajawa ; 
but  he  could  not  deny  that  by  selling  people  Kalolljere 
had  invited  these  slave-hunters  to  the  country.  This  is 
the  second  humpbacked  dwarf  we  have  found  occupying 
the  like  important  post,  the  other  was  the  prime  minister 
of  a  Batonga  Chief  on  the  ZambesL 

Ah  we  sailed  along,  we  disturbed  many  white-breasted 
cormorants ;  we  had  seen  the  same  species  fishing  between 
the  cataracts.  Here,  with  many  other  wild-fowl,  they  find 
subsistence  on  the  smooth  water  by  night,  and  sit  sleepily 
on  trees  and  in  the  reeds  by  day.  Many  hippopotami  were 
seen  in  the  river,  and  one  of  them  stretched  its  wide  jaws, 
as  if  to  swallow  the  whole  stem  of  the  boat,  close  to  Dr. 
Bark's  back;  the  animal  was  so  near,  that  in  opening  its 
mouth  it  lashed  a  quantity  of  water  on  to  the  stem-sheets, 
but  did  no  damage.    To  avoid  large  marauding  parties  of 


368  MOSQUITOES.  Chap.  XIX. 

Ajavra,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Shire,  we  continned  on  the 
right,  or  western  side,  with  our  land  party,  along  the  shore  of 
the  small  lake  Famalombe.  This  lakelet  is  ten  or  twelve 
miles  in  length,  and  five  or  six  broad.  It  is  nearly  sQrrounded 
by  a  broad  belt  of  papyrus,  so  dense  that  we  could  scarcely 
find  an  opening  to  the  shore.  The  plants,  ten  or  twelve  feet 
high,  grew  so  closely  together  that  air  was  excluded,  and  so 
much  sulphuretted  hydrogen  gas  evolved  that  by  one  night's 
exposure  the  bottom  of  the  boat  was  blackened.  Myriads  of 
mosquitoes  showed,  as  probably  they  always  do,  the  presence 
of  malaria. 

We  hastened  from  this  sickly  spot,  trying  to  take  the 
attentions  of  the  mosquitoes  as  hints  to  seek  more  plea- 
sant quarters  on  the  healthy  shores  of  Lake  Nyassa ;  and 
when  we  sailed  into  it,  on  the  2nd  September,  we  ielt 
refreshed  by  the  greater  coolness  of  the  air  off  this  large 

* 

body  of  water.    The  depth  was  the  first  point  of  interest 
This  is  indicated  by  the  colour  of  the  water,  which,  on 
a  belt  along  the  shore,  varying  from  a  quarter  to  half  a 
mile  in  breadth,  is  light  green,  and  this  is  met  by  the  deep 
blue   or  indigo    tint    of  the  Indian  Ocean,  which  is  the 
colour  of  the  great  body  of  Nyassa.    We  found  the  Upper 
Shire  from  nine  to  fifteen  feet  in  depth ;  but  skirting  the 
western  side  of  the  lake  about  a  mile  from  the  shore  the 
water  deepened  from  nine  to  fifteen  fitthoms;  then,  as  we 
rounded  the  grand  mountainous  promontory,  which  we  named 
Cape  Maclear,  after  our  excellent  friend  the  Astronomer 
Eoyal  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  we  could  get  no  bottom 
with  our  lead-line  of  thiity-five  fathoms.    We  pulled  along 
the  western  shore,  which  was  a  succession  of  bays,  and  found 
that  where  the  bottom  was  sandy  near  the  beach,  and  to 
a  mile  out,  the  depth  varied  from  six  to  fourteen  fathoms. 
In  a  rocky  bay  about  latitude  11°  40'  welhad  soundings  at 


CflAP.  XIX.  LAKE  NYASSA.  369 

100  fathoms,  though  outside  the  same  bay  we  found  none 
with  a  fishing-line  of  116  fathoms ;  but  this  cast  was  unsatis- 
factory, as  the  line  broke  in  coming  up.  According  to  our 
present  knowledge,  a  ship  could  anchor  only  near  the  shore. 

Looking  back  to  the  southern  end  of  Lake  Nyassa,  the 
arm  from  which  the  Shire  flows  was  found  to  be  about  thirty 
miles  long  and  from  ten  to  twelve  broad.  Bounding  Cape 
Maclear,  and  looking  to  the  south-west,  we  have  another 
arm,  which  stretches  some  eighteen  miles  southward,  and 
is  from  six  to  twelve  miles  in  breadth.  These  arms  give  the 
southern  end  a  forked  appearance,  and  with  the  help  of 
a  little  imagination  it  may  be  likened  to  the  "  boot-shape  " 
of  Italy.  The  narrowest  part  is  about  the  ankle,  eighteen  or 
twenty  miles.  From  this  it  widens  to  the  north,  and  in  the 
upper  third  or  fourth  it  is  fifty  or  sixty  miles  broad.  The 
length  is  over  200  miles.  The  direction  in  which  it  lies 
is  as  near  as  possible  due  north  and  south.  Nothing  of  the 
great  bend  to  the  west,  shown  in  all  the  previous  maps,  could 
be  detected  by  either  compass  or  chronometer,  and  the  watch 
we  used  was  an  excellent  one.  The  season  of  the  year  was 
very  unfavourable.  The  "smokes"  filled  the  air  with  an 
impenetrable  haze,  and  the  equinoctial  gales  made  it 
impossible  for  us  to  cross  to  the  eastern  side.  When 
we  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  sun  rising  from  behind  the 
mountains  to  the  east,  we  made  sketches  and  bearings  of 
them  at  different  latitudes,  which  enabled  us  to  secure  ap* 
proximate  measfurements  of  the  width.  These  agreed  with 
jthe  times  taken  by  the  natives  at  the  different  crossing- 
places — as  Tsenga,  and  Molamba.  About  the  beginning  of 
the  upper  third  the  lake  is  crossed  by  taking  advantage  of 
the  island  Chizumara,  which  name  in  the  native  tongue 
means  the  "  ending ; "  further  north  they  go  roimd  the  end 
instead,  though  that  takes  several  days. 

2  B 


370  CAUGHT  IN  A  STORM.  Chap.  XIX. 

The  lake'f  appeared  to  be  surrounded  by  mountams,  but 
it  was  afterwards  found  that  these  beautiful  tree-covered 
heights  were,  on  the  west,  only  the  edges  of  high  table-lands. 
Like  all  narrow  seas  encircled  by  highlands,  it  is  visited 
by  sudden  and  tremendous  storms.  We  were  on  it  in 
September  and  October,  perhaps  the  stormiest  season  of 
the  year,  and  were  repeatedly  detained  by  gales.  At  times, 
while  sailing  pleasantly  over  the  blue  water  with  a  gentle 
breeze,  suddenly  and  without  any  warning  was  heard  the 
sound  of  a  coming  storm,  roaring  on  with  crowds  of  angry 
waves  in  its  wake.  We  were  caught  one  morning  with  ihe 
sea  breaking  all  around  us,  and,  unable  either  to  advance  or 
recede,  anchored  a  mile  from  shore,  in  seven  £sithom&  The 
furious  surf  on  the  beach  would  have  shivered  our  slender 
boat  to  atoms,  had  we  tried  to  land.  The  waves  most  dreaded 
came  rolling'*on  in  threes,  with  their  crests,  driven  into  spray, 
streaming  behind  them.  A  short  lull  followed  each  triple 
charge.  Had  one  of  these  white-maned  seas  struck  our 
frail  bark,  nothing  could  have  saved  us;  for  they  came  on 
with  resistless  force ;  seaward,  in  shore,  and  on  either  side  of 
us,  they  broke  in  foam,  but  we  escaped.  For  six  weary 
hours  we  faced  those  terrible  trios,  any  one  of  which 
might  have  been  carrjring  the  end  of  our  Expedition  in  its 
hoary  head.  A  low,  dark,  detached,  oddly-shaped  doud 
came  slowly  from  the  mountains,  and  hung  for  hours  directly 
over  our  heads.  A  flock  of  night-jars  (Cometamis  vexiUariui), 
which  on  no  other  occasion  come  out  by  day,  soared  above  us 
in  the  gale,  like  birds  of  evil  omen.  Our  black  crew  became 
sea-sick  aud  unable  to  sit  up  or  keep  the  boat's  head  to  the 
sea.  The  natives  and  our  laud  party  stood  on  the  high  cliffs 
looking  at  us  and  exclaiming,  as  the  waves  seemed  to  swallow 
up  the  boat,  "  They  are  lost !  they  are  all  dead  1 "  When  at 
last  the  gale  moderated  and  we  got  safely  ashore,  they  saluted 


r 


Chap.  XIX.       LARGE  WAVES  ON  THE  LAKE.  371 

us  warmly,  as  after  a  long  absence.  From  this  time  we 
tmsted  implicitly  to  the  opinions  of  our  seaman,  John  Neil, 
who,  haying  been  a  fisherman  on  the  coast  of  Ireland,  under- 
stood boating  on  a  stormy  coast,  and  by  his  advice  we  often 
sat  cowering  on  the  land  for  days  together  waiting  for  the 
surf  to  go  down.  He  had  never  seen  such  waves  before. 
We  had  to  beach  the  boat  every  night  to  save  her  from 
being  swamped  at  anchor ;  and,  did  we  not  believe  the  gales 
to  be  peculiar  to  one  season  of  the  year,  would  call  Nyassa, 
the  "Lake  of  Storms." 

Lake  Nyassa  receives  no  great  affluents  from  the  west. 
The  five  rivers  we  observed  in  passing  did  not  at  this  time 
appear  to  bring  in  as  much  water  as  the  Shire  was  carrying 
out.  They  were  from  fifteen  to  thirty  yards  wide,  and  some 
too  deep  to  ford;  but  the  evaporation  must  be  very  con- 
siderable. These  streams,  with  others  of  about  the  same 
size  from  the  moimtains  on  the  east  and  north,  when  swollen 
by  the  rains  may  be  sufficient  to  account  for  the  rise  in 
the  lake  without  any  large  river.  The  natives  nearest 
the  northern  end  denied  the  existence  of  a  large  river 
there,  though  at  one  time  it  seemed  necessary  to  accoimt 
for  the  Shire's  perennial  ftow.  Distinct  white  marks  on  the 
rocks  showed  that,  for  some  time  during  the  rainy  season, 
the  water  of  the  lake  is  three  feet  above  the  point  to  which 
it  falls  towards  the  close  of  the  dry  period  of  the  year.  The 
rains  begin  here  in  November,  and  the  permanent  rise  of  the 
Shire  does  not  take  place  till  January.  The  western  side  of 
Lake  Nyassa,  with  the  exception  of  the  great  harbour  to  the 
west  of  Cape  Madear,  is,  as  has  been  said  before,  a  succession 
of  small  bays  of  nearly  similar  form,  each  having  an  open  sandy 
beach  and  pebbly  shore,  and  being  separated  from  its  neigh- 
bour by  a  rocky  headland,  with  detached  rocks  extending 
some  distance  out  to  sea.  The  great  south-western  bay  referred 

2  B  2 


372  DENSE  POPULATION.  Chap.  XIX. 

to  would  fonn  a  magnificent  harbour,  the  only  really  good  one 
we  saw  to  the  west. 

The  land  immediately  adjacent  to  the  lake  is  low  and 
fertUe,  though  in  some  places  marshy  and  tenanted  by  large 
flocks  of  ducks,  geese,  herons,  crowned  cranes,  and  other  birds. 
In  the  southern  part  we  have  sometimes  ten  or  a  dozen  miles 
of  rich  plains,  bordered  by  what  seem  high  ranges  of  weU- 
wooded  hills,  running  nearly  parallel  with  the  lake.  North- 
wards the  mountains  become  loftier  and  present  some  magni- 
ficent views,  range  towering  beyond  range,  until  the  dim, 
lofty  outlines  projected  against  the  sky  bound  the  prospect 
Still  fiuther  north  the  plain  becomes  more  narrow, 
until,  near  where  we  turned,  it  disappears  altogether,  and 
the  mountains  rise  abruptly  out  of  the  lake,  forming  the 
north-east  boundary  of  what  was  described  to  us  as  an  exten- 
sive table-land,  well  suited  for  pasturage  and  agriculture,  and 
now  only  partially  occupied  by  a  tribe  of  Zulus,  who  came 
from  the  south  some  years  ago.  These  people  own  large 
herds  of  cattle,  and  are  constantly  increasing  in  numbers  by 
annexing  other  tribes. 

Never  before  in  Africa  have  we  seen  anything  like  the  dense 
population  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Nyassa.  In  the  southern 
part,  there  was  an  almost  unbroken  chain  of  villages.  On 
the  beach  of  wellnigh  every  little  sandy  bay,  dark  crowds 
were  standing,  gazing  at  the  novel  sight  of  a  boat  under  sail ; 
and  wherever  we  landed  we  were  surrounded  in  a  few  seconds 
by  hundreds  of  men,  women,  and  children,  who  hastened  to 
have  a  stare  at  the  ^chirombo"  (wild  animals).  To  see  the 
animals  feed  was  the  greatest  attraction ;  never  did  the  Zoo- 
logical Society's  lions  or  monkeys  draw  more  sightseers, 
than  we  did.  Indeed,  we  equalled  the  hippopotamus  on  his  first 
arrival  among  the  civilized  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames.  The 
wondering  multitude  crowded  round  us  at  meal-times  and 


Chap.  XIX,  NATIVE  CURIOSITY.  373 

formed  a  thicket  of  dark  bodies^  all  looking  on,  apparently, 

with  the  deepest  interest ;  but  they  goodnaturedly  kept  each 

other  to  a  line  we  made  on  the  sand,  and  left  us  room  to  dine. 

They  were  civil  upon  the  whole.    Twice  they  went  the  length 

of  lifting  up  the  edge  of  our  sail,  which  we  used  as  a  tent,  as 

boys  do  the  curtains  of  travelling  menageries  at  home.    They 

named  us  indeed  "  chirombo,"  which  means  only  the  wild 

beasts  that  may  be  eaten,  but  they  had  no  idea  that  we 
understood  their  meaning.    No  fines  were  levied  on  us,  nor 

dues  demanded.  At  one  village  only  were  they  impudent, 
but  they  were  "  elevated"  by  beer.  They  cultivate  the^soil 
pretty  extensively,  and  grow  large  quantities  of  rice  and 
sweet  potatoes,  as  well  as  maize,  mapira,  and  millet.  In 
the  north,  however,  cassava  is  the  staple  product,  which,  with 
fish  kept  till  the  flavour  is  high,  constitutes  the  main  sup- 
port of  the  inhabitants.  During  a  portion  of  the  year,  the 
northern  dwellers  on  the  lake  have  a  harvest  which  furnishes 
a  singular  sort  of  food.  As  we  approached  our  limit 
in  that  direction,  clouds,  as  of  smoke  rising  from  miles 
of  burning  grass,  were  observed  bending  in  a  south- 
easterly direction,  and  we  thought  that  the  unseen  land  on 
the  opposite  side  was  closing  in,  and  that  we  were  near  the 
end  of  the  lake.  But  next  morning  we  sailed  through  one  of 
the  clouds  on  our  own  side,  and  discovered  that  it  was  neither 
smoke  nor  haze,  but  countless  millions  of  minute  midges 
called  **  kungo "  (a  cloud  or  fog).  They  filled  the  air  to  an 
immense  height,  and  swarmed  upon  the  water,  too  light  to 
sink  in  it.  Eyes  and  mouth  had  to  be  kept  closed  while 
passing  through  this  living  cloud :  they  struck  upon  the  face 
like  fine  drifting  snow.  Thousands  lay  in  the  boat  when  she 
emerged  from  the  cloud  of  midges.  The  people  gather  these 
minute  insects  by  night,  and  boil  them  into  thick  cakes,  to  be 
used  as  a  relish — ^millions  of  midges  in  a  cake.    A  kungo 


374  ABUNDANCE  OF  FISH.  Chap.  XIX. 

cake^  an  incli  thick  and  as  large  as  the  blue  bonnet  of  a  Scotch 
ploughman,  was  oflTered  to  us ;  it  was  very  dark  in  colour, 
and  tasted  not  unlike  cayiare,  or  salted  locusts. 

Abundance  of  excellent  fish  are  found  in  the  lake,  and  nearly 
all  were  new  to  us.  The  mpasa  or  sanjika,  found  by  Dr.  Eirk 
to  be  a  kind  of  carp,  was  running  up  the  rivers  to  spawn,  like 
our  salmon  at  home :  the  largest  we  saw  was  over  two  feet  in 
length ;  it  is  a  splendid  fish,  and  the  best  we  have  ever  eaten  in 
Africa.  They  were  ascending  the  rivers^in  August  and  Sep- 
tember, and  furnished  active  and  profitable  employment  to 
many  fishermen,  who  did  not  mind  their  being  out  of  seascm. 
Weirs  were  constructed  fuU  of  sluices,  in  each  of  which  was 
seta  large  basket-trap,  through  whose  single  tortuous  opening 
the  fish  once  in  has  but  small  chance  of  escape.  A  short 
distance  below  the  weir,  nets  are  stretched  across  from  bank 
to  bank,  so  that  it  seemed  a  marvel  how  the  most 
sagacious  sanjika  could  get  up  at  all  without  being  taken. 
Possibly  a  passage  up  the  river  is  found  at  night ;  but  this 
is  not  the  country  of  Sundays  or  "  close  times  "  for  either  men, 
or  fish.  The  lake  fish  are  caiight  chiefly  in  nets,  although 
men,  and  even  women  with  babies  on  their  backs,  are  occa- 
sionally seen  fishing  from  the  rocks  with  hooks. 

A  net  with  small  meshes  is  used  for  catching  the  young  fiy 
of  a  silvery  kind  like  pickerel,  when  they  are  about  two  inches 
long ;  thousands  are  often  taken  in  a  single  haul.  We  had 
a  present  of  a  large  bucketful  one  day  for  dinner :  they  tasted 
as  if  they  had  been  cooked  with  a  little  quinine,  probably 
from  their  gall-bladders  being  left  in.  In  deep  water^, 
some  sorts  are  taken  by  lowering  fish-baskets  attached 
by  a  long  cord  to  a  float,  around  which  is  often  tied  a  mass  of 
grass  or  weeds,  as  an  alluring  shade  for  the  deep-sea  fish. 
Fleets  of  fine  canoes  are  engaged  in  the  fisheries.  The  men 
have  long  paddles,  and  stand  erect  while  using  them.     They 


Chap.  XIX.  THE  LAKE  MEN.  375 

sometiines  venture  out  when  a  considerable  sea  is  running. 
Our  Makololo  acknowledged  that,  in  handling  canoes,  the 
Lake  men  beat  them;  they  were  unwilling  to  cross  the 
Zambesi  even,  when  the  wind  blew  fresh.  The  first  impres- 
sion one  receives  of  the  Lake  Nyassa  men  is,  that  they  are 
far  from  being  industrious — or,  to  be  more  explicit^  are 
troubled  with  downright  laziness.  Groups  may  be  seen 
during  the  day  lying  fast  asleep  under  the  shady  trees  along 
the  shore,  and  apparently  taking  life  very  easily :  but,  on  a 
little  better  acquaintance,  tiiis  first  impression  is  modified, 
and  it  is  found  that  these  forenoon  sleepers  have  been  hard 
at  work  the  greater  part  of  the  night.  Li  the  afternoon  they 
begin  to  bestir  themselves;  examining  and  mending  their  nets, 
carrying  them  to  the  canoes,  and  coiling  in  their  lines.  In 
the  evening  they  paddle  off  to  the  best  fishing  station,  and 
throughout  most  of  the  night  the  poor  fellows  are  toiling  in 
the  water,  dragging  their  nets.  They  too  suffer  from  fever. 
We  saw  the  herpetic  eruptions  round  their  mouths  which 
often  mark  its  cure,  and  found  that  the  chills  act  on  them, 
though  their  skin  is  much  more  torpid  in  function  than  ours. 
Hence  that  conformity  to  the  customs  of  the  natives,  which 
some  people  enjoin,  would  require  modification  for  our  highly 
excitable  skins.  Our  beards  grow  as  much  in  a  week  as 
theirs  do  in  a  month. 

Though  there  are  many  crocodiles  in  the  lake,  and  some 
of  an  extraordinary  size,  the  fishermen  say  that  it  is  a  rare 
thing  for  any  one  to  be  carried  off  by  these  reptiles.  When 
crocodiles  can  easily  obtain  abundance  of  fish  —  their 
natural  food — ^they  seldom  attack  men  ;  but  when  unable  to 
see  to  catch  their  prey,  from  the  muddiness  of  the  water  in 
floods,  they  are  very  dangerous. 

Many  men  and  boys  are  employed  in  gathering  the  buaze, 
in  preparing  the  fibre,  and  in  making  it  into  long  nets.     The 


876  BARK  CLOTH.  Chap.  XDC 

knot  of  the  net  is  different  fix>m  ours,  for  they  inyariably  use 
what  sailors  call  the  reef  knot,  but  they  net  with  a  needle 
like  that  we  use.  From  the  amount  of  native  cotton  cloth 
worn  in  many  of  the  southern  villages,  it  is  evident  that  a 
goodly  number  of  busy  hands,  and  patient  heads,  must  be  em- 
ployed in  the  cultivation  of  cotton  and  in  the  various  slow  pro- 
cesses through  which  it  has  to  pass,  before  the  web  is  finished 
in  the  native  loom.  In  addition  to  this  branch  of  industry,  an 
extensive  manufacture  of  cloth,  from  tlie  inner  bark  of  an  un- 
described  tree,  of  the  botanical  group,  Ccesalpinece,  is  ever 
going  on,  from  one  end  of  Hie  lake  to  the  other ;  and  boUi 
toil  and  time  are  required  to  procure  the  bark,  and  to  prepfyre 
it  by  pounding  and  steeping  it  to  render  it  soft  and  pliabla 
The  prodigious  amount  of  the  bark  clothing  worn  indicate 
the  destruction  of  an  immense  number  of  trees  every  year;* 
yet  the  adjacent  heights  seem  still  well  covered  with  timber. 

The  Lake  people  are  by  no  means  handsome :  the  women — 
to  use  our  mildest  term  to  the  fair  sex — ^are  veri/  plain ;  and 
really  make  themselves  hideous  by  the  means  they  adopt  to 
render  their  persons  beautiful  and  attractive.  The  pelek,  or 
ornament  for  the  upper  lip,  is  universally  worn  by  the  ladies; 
the  most  valuable  is  of  pure  tin,  hammered  into  the  shape  of 
a  small  dish ;  some  are  made  of  white  quartz,  and  give  the 
wearer  the  appearance  of  having  an  inch  or  more  of  one  of 
Price's  patent  candles  thrust  through  the  lip,  and  projecting 
beyond  the  tip  of  the  nose.  Some  ladies,  not  content  with  the 
upper  pelele,  go  to  extremes,  as  ladies  will,  and  insert  another 
in  the  under  lip  through  a  hole  almost  opposite  the  lower 
gums.  A  few  peleles  are  made  of  a  blood-red  kind  of 
pipeclay,  much  in  fashion, — "sweet  things"  in  the  way  o{ 
lip-rings ;  but  so  hideous  to  behold,  that  no  time  nor  usage 
could  make  our  eyes  rest  upon  them  without  aversion. 

All  the  natives  are  tattooed  from  head  to  foot,  the  figures 


Chap.  XIX.  NATIVE  STYLE  OF  ORNAMENT.  377 

being  characteristic  of  the  tribes,  and  varying  with  them.  The 
Matumboka,  or  Atimboka,  raise  up  little  knobs  on  the  skin  of 
their  faces,  after  a  fashion  that  makes  them  look  as  if  coyered 
all  over  with  warts  or  pimples.  The  young  girls  are  good- 
looking  before  this  ugly  adornment  hardens  the  features, 
and  giyes  them  the  appearance  of  age.  Their  gowns  are  in- 
describable, owing  to  the  extreme  scantiness  of  the  material 
from  which  they  are  cut,  and  their  beautiful  teeth  are  notched 
or  clipped  to  points  like  those  of  cats. 

In  character,  the  Lake  tribes  are  very  much  like  other 
people ;  there  are  decent  men  among  them,  while  a  good 
mauy  are  no  better  than  they  should  be.  They  are  open- 
handed  enough :  if  one  of  us,  as  was  often  the  case,  went  to 
see  a  net  drawn,  a  fish  was  always  offered.  Sailing  one  day 
past  a  number  of  men,  who  had  just  dragged  their  nets 
ashore,  at  one  of  the  fine  fisheries  at  Pamalombe,  we  were 
hailed  and  asked  to  stop,  and  received  a  liberal  donation  of 
beautiful  fish.  Arriving  late  one  afternoon  at  a  small  village 
on  the  lake,  a  number  of  the  inhabitants  manned  two  canoes, 
took  out  their  seine,  dragged  it,  and  made  us  a  present  of 
the  entire  hauL  The  northern  Chief,  Marenga,  a  tall  hand- 
some man,  with  a  fine  aquiline  nose,  whom  we  foimd  living 
in  his  stockade  in  a  forest  about  twenty  miles  north  of  the 
mountain  Kowirwe,  behaved  like  a  gentleman  to  us.  His 
land  extended  &om  Dambo  to  the  north  of  Makuza  hill. 
He  was  specially  generous,  and  gave  us  bountiful  presents 
of  food  and  beer.  "  Do  they  wear  such  things  in  your  coun- 
try?" he  asked,  pointing  to  his  iron  bracelet^  which  was 
studded  with  copper,  and  highly  prized.  The  Doctor  said 
he  had  never  seen  such  in  his  country,  whereupon  Marenga 
instantly  took  it  off,  and  presented  it  to  him,  and  his  wife 
also  did  the  same  with  hers.  On  our  return  south  from  the 
mountains  near  the  north  end  of  the  Lake,  we  reached 


378  MAUENGA'S  GENEROSITY.  Chap.  XIX. 

Marenga's  on  the  7th  October.    When  he  could  not  prevafl 
upon   us  to  forego  the  advantage  of  a  lair  wind  for  his 
invitation  to  "  spend  the  whole  day  drinking  his  beer,  whidi 
was,"  he  said  "  quite  ready,"  he  loaded  us  with  provisions,  all 
of  which  he  sent  for  before  we  gave  him  any  present.    In 
allusion  to  the  boat's  sail,  his  people  said  that  they  had  no 
Bazimo,  or  none  worth  having,  seeing  they  had  never  in- 
vented the  like  for  them.    The  Chief,  Mankambira,  likewise 
treated  us  with  kindness;  but  wherever  the  slave-trade  h 
carried  on,  the  people  are  dishonest  and  uncivil ;  that  invari- 
ably leaves  a  blight  and  a  curse  in  its  path.    The  first  que&- 
tion  put  to  us  at  the  lake  crossing-places,  was,  "  Have  you 
come  to  buy  slaves?"    On  hearing  that  we  were  English, 
and  never  purchased  slaves,  the  questioners  put  on  a  soper- 
cilious  air,  and  sometimes  refused  to  sell  us  food.    This  want 
of  respect  to  us  may  have  been  owing  to  the  impressbns  con- 
veyed to  them  by  the  Arabs,  whose  dhows  have  sometimes 
been  taken  by  English  cruisers  when  engaged  in  lawful  trade. 
Much  foreign  cloth,  beads,  and  brass-wire,  were  worn  by  these 
ferrymen — ^and  some  had  muskets. 

By  Chitanda,  near  one  of  the  slave  crossing-places,  we  were 
robbed  for  the  first  time  in  Africa,  and  learned  by  expe- 
rience that  these  people,  like  more  civilized  nations,  have 
expert  thieves  among  them.  It  might  be  only  a  coincidence ; 
but  we  never  suffered  from  impudence,  loss  of  property,  or  were 
endangered,  imless  among  people  familiar  with  slaving. 
We  had  such  a  general  sense  of  security,  that  never, 
save  when  we  suspected  treachery,  did  we  set  a  watch  at 
night.  Our  native  companions  had,  on  this  occasion, 
been  carousing  on  beer,  and  had  removed  to  a  distance 
of  some  thirty  yards,  that  we  might  not  overhear  their 
free  and  easy  after-dinner  remarks,  and  two  of  us  had  a 
slight  touch  of  fever;   between  three  and  four  o'clock  & 


Chap.  XIX.  THIEVES.  379 

the  morning  some  light-fingered  gentry  came,  while  we  slept 
ingloriously — trifles  and  revolvers  all  ready, — ^and  relieved  us 
of  most  of  our  goods.  The  boat's  sail,  under  which  we  slept, 
was  open  aU  around,  so  the  feat  was  easy.  One  of  us  fell 
his  pillow  moving,  but  in  the  delicious  dreamy  state  in  which 
he  lay,  thought  it  was  one  of  the  attendants  adjusting  his 
covering,  and  so,  as  he  fancied,  let  weU  alone. 

Awaking  as  honest  men  do,  at  the  usual  hour,  the  loss  of 
one  was  announced  by  "My  bag  is  gone — ^with  all  my 
clothes ;  and  my  boots  too ! "  "  And  mine ! "  responded  a 
second.  "  And  mine  also !  *'  chimed  in  the  third, "  with  the 
bag  of  beads,  and  the  rice!"  *'Is  the  cloth  taken ?**  was 
the  eager  inquiry,  as  that  would  have  been  equivalent  to  all 
our  money.  It  had  been  used  for  a  pillow  that  night,  and 
thus  saved.  The  rogues  left  on  the  beach,  close  to  our  beds, 
the  Aneroid  Barometer  and  a  pair  of  boots,  thinking,  pos- 
sibly, that  they  might  be  of  use  to  us,  or,  at  least,  that  they 
could  be  of  none  to  them.  They  shoved  back  some  dried 
plants  and  fishes  into  one  bag,  but  carried  off  many  other 
specimens  we  had  collected;  some  of  our  notes  also,  and 
nearly  all  our  clothing;  one  of  our  party,  indeed,  rose  with 
nothing  belonging  to  him  but  what  he  happened  to  have 
on  at  the  time;  another  was  indebted  to  female  curiosity 
for  the  safety  of  his  best  suit;  for,  having  on  the  day  pre- 
vious, Sunday,  retired  from  the  crowd  to  have  a  bath  and 
change  among  the  reeds,  he  looked  about  before  being 
quite  undressed,  and  foimd  a  crowd  of  ladies  peering  at 
the  apparition.  He  retired  without  either  bath  or  change 
of  apparel.  One  feels  ashamed  of  the  white  skin ;  it  seems 
unnatural,  like  blanched  celery — or  white  mice.  On  re- 
turning to  the  camp,  which  was  surrounded  with  perpetual 
clatter  and  crowds  of  visitors  all  day,  he  changed  his  cloth- 
ing after  dark,  putting  on  and  sleeping  in  his  best,  as  it 


380  SHELTER  FROM  A  STORM,  Chap.  XIX. 

was  too  late  to  change  it  again,  so  the  worst  only  was 
stolen. 

We  conld  not  suspect  the  people  of  the  village  near  which 
we  lay.  We  had  probably  been  followed  for  days  by  the 
thieves  watching  for  an  opportunity.  And  our  suspicions 
fell  on  some  persons  who  had  come  from  the  East  Coast;  but 
having  no  evidence,  and  expecting  to  hear  if  our  goods  were 
exposed  for  sale  in  the  vicinity,  we  made  no  fuss  about  it, 
and  began  to  make  new  clothing.  That  our  rifles  and  revolvers 
were  left  untouched  was  greatly  to  our  advantage :  yet  we 
felt  it  was  most  humiliating  for  armed  men  to  have  been  so 
thoroughly  fleeced  by  a  few  black  rascals. 

Some  of  the  best  fisheries  appear  to  be  private  property. 
We  found  shelter  &om  a  storm  one  morning  in. a  spacious 
lagoon,  which  communicated  with  the  lake  by  a  narrow 
passage.  Across  this  strait  stakes  were  driven  in,  leaving 
only  spaces  for  the  basket  fish-traps.  A  score  of  men  were 
busily  engaged  in  taking  out  the  fish.  We  tried  to  purchase 
some,  but  they  refused  to  sell.  The  fish  did  not  belong  to 
them,  they  would  send  for  the  proprietor  of  the  place.  The 
proprietor  arrived  in  a  short  time,  and  readily  sold  what  we 
wanted. 

Some  of  the  burying-grounds  are  very  well  arranged,  and 
well  cared  for ;  this  was  noticed  at  Chitanda,  and  more  parti- 
cularly at  a  village  on  the  southern  shore  of  the  fine  harbour 
at  Cape  Maclear.  Wide  and  neat  paths  were  made  in  the  bury- 
ing-ground  on  its  eastern  and  southern  sides.  A  grand  old  fig- 
tree  stood  at  the  north-east  comer,  and  its  wide-spreading 
branches  threw  their  kindly  shade  over  the  last  resting-place 
of  the  dead.  Several  other  magnificent  trees  grew  around 
the  hallowed  spot.  Mounds  were  raised  as  they  are  at 
home,  but  all  lay  north  and  south,  the  heads  apparently 
north.      The    graves   of  the  sexes  were  distinguished  by 


Chap.  XIX.  NATIVE  GRAVES.  381 

the  various  implements  which  the  buried  dead  had  used 
in  their  different  employments  during  life;  but  they  were 
all  broken  as  if  to  be  employed  no  more.  A  piece  of 
fishing-net  and  a  broken  paddle  told  that  a  fisherman 
slept  beneath  that  sod.  The  graves  of  the  women  had  the 
wooden  mortar,  and  the  heavy  pestle  used  in  pounding 
the  com,  and  the  basket  in  which  the  meal  is  sifted,  while 
all  had  numerous  broken  calabashes  and  pots  arranged 
around  them.  The  idea  that  the  future  life  is  like  the  pre- 
sent does  not  appear  to  prevail ;  yet  a  banana-tree  had  been 
carefully  planted  at  the  head  of  several  of  the  graves,  and, 
if  not  merely  for  ornament,  the  fruit  might  be  considered  an 
offering  to  those  who  still  possess  human  tastes.  The  people 
of  the  neighbouring  viUages  were  friendly  and  obliging,  and 
willingly  brought  us  food  for  sale. 

Pursuing  our  exploration,  we  found  that  the  northern 
part  of  the  lake  was  the  abode  of  lawlessness  and  blood- 
shed. The  Mazite  or  Masdtu  live  on  the  highlands,  and 
make  sudden  swoops  on  the  villages  of  the  plains.  They 
are  Zulus  who  came  originally  from  the  south,  inland  of 
Sofalla  and  Inhambane ;  and  are  of  the  same  family  as  those 
who  levy  annual  tribute  from  the  Portuguese  on  the  Zambesi. 
All  the  villages  north  of  Mankambira's  (lat.  11°  44'  south) 
had  been  recently  destroyed  by  these  terrible  marauders, 
but  they  were  foiled  in  their  attacks  upon  that  Chief  and 
Marenga.  The  thickets  and  stockades  roimd  their  villages 
enabled  the  bowmen  to  pick  off  the  Mazitu  in  security, 
while  they  were  afraid  to  venture  near  any  place  where 
they  could  not  use  their  shields.  Beyond  Mankambira's  we 
saw  burned  villages,  and  the  putrid  bodies  of  many  who  had 
fallen  by  Mazitu  spears  only  a  few  days  before.  Our  land 
party  were  afraid  to  go  further,  and  dreaded  meeting  the 
inflicters   of    the    terrible    vengeance,  of  which  they  saw 


382  FOUR  DAYS'  SEPARATION.  Chap.  XIX. 

the  evidence  at  every  taming,  vnthont  a  European  in 
their  company.  This  reluctance  on  the  part  of  the  native 
land  party  to  proceed  without  the  presence  of  a  white  man 
was  very  natural,  because  bands  of  the  enemy  who  had 
ravaged  the  country  were  supposed  to  be  still  roaming 
about ;  and,  if  these  marauders  saw  none  but  men  of  their 
own  colour,  our  party  might  forthwith  be  attacked.  Com- 
pliance with  their  request  led  to  an  event  which  might  have 
been  attended  by  very  serious  consequences.  Dr.  Living- 
stone got  separated  &om  the  party  in  the  boat  for  four 
days.  Having  taken  the  first  morning's  journey  along  with 
them,  and  directmg  the  boat  to  call  for  him  in  a  bay  in 
sight,  both  p£u:ties  proceeded  north.  In  an  hour  Dr.  Living- 
stone and  his  party  struck  inland,  on  approaching  the  foot  of 
the  mountains  which  rise  abruptly  firom  the  lake.  Supposing 
that  they  had  heard  of  a  path  behind  the  high  range 
which  there  forms  the  shore,  those  in  the  boat  held  <m 
their  course ;  but  it  soon  began  to  blow  so  fresh  that  they 
had  to  run  ashore  for  safety.  While  delayed  a  couple  of 
hours,  two  men  were  sent  up  the  hills  to  look  for  the  land 
party,  but  they  could  see  nothing  of  them,  and  the  boat 
party  sailed  as  soon  as  it  was  safe  to  put  to  sea,  vnth  the 
conviction  that  the  missing  ones  would  regain  the  lake  in 
front. 

Li  a  short  time  a  small  island  or  mass  of  rocks  was  passed, 
on  which  were  a  number  of  armed  Mazitu  with  some  young 
women  apparently  their  wives.  The  headman  said  that  he 
had  been  wounded  in  the  foot  by  Mankambira,  and  that 
they  were  staying  there  till  he  could  walk  to  his  Chief,  who 
lived  over  the  hills.  They  had  several  large  canoes,  and  it 
was  evident  that  this  was  a  nest  of  lake  pirates,  who  sallied 
out  by  night  to  kill  and  plunder.  They  reported  a  path  be- 
hind the  hills,  and,  the  crew  being  reassured,  the  boat  sailed  on« 


Chap.  XIX.  TEY  TO  PURCHASE  FOOD.  383 

A  few  miles  farther,  another  and  still  larger  band  of  pirates 
were  fallen  in  with,  and  hundreds  of  crows  and  kites  hovered 
over  and  round  the  rocks  on  which  they  lived.  Dr.  Kirk  and 
Charles  Livingstone,  though  ordered  in  a  voice  of  authority 
to  come  ashore,  kept  on  their  course.  A  number  of  canoes 
then  shot  out  from  the  rocks  and  chased  them.  One  with 
nine  strong  paddlers  persevered  for  some  time  after  all  the 
others  gave  up  the  chase.  A  good  breeze,  however,  enabled 
the  gig  to  get  away  from  them  with  ease.  After  sailing 
twelve  or  fifteen  miles,  north  of  the  point  where  Dr.  Living- 
stone had  left  them,  it  was  decided  that  he  must  be  behind ; 
but  no  sooner  had  the  boat's  head  been  turned  south,  than 
another  gale  compelled  iier  to  seek  shelter  in  a  bay.  Here 
a  nuniber  of  wreitched  fugitives  from  the  slave-trade  on  the 
opposite  shore  of  the  lake  were  found;  the  original  inhabi- 
tants of  the  place  had  all  been  swept  off  the  year  before 
by  the  Mazitu.  Li  the  deserted  gardens  beautifiil  cotton 
was  seen  growing,  much  of  it  had  the  staple  an  inch  and  a 
half  long,  and  of  very  fine  quality.  Some  of  the  plants 
were  uncommonly  large,  deserving  to  be  ranked  with  trees. 

On  their  trying  to  purchase  food,  the  natives  had  nothing  to 
sell  except  a  little  dried  cassava-root,  and  a  few  fish :  and  they 
demanded  two  yards  of  calico  for  the  head  only  of  a  large 
fish.  When  the  gale  admitted  of  their  return,  their  former 
pursuers  tried  to  draw  them  ashore  by  asserting  that  they 
had  quantities  of  ivory  for  sale.  Owing  to  a  succession  of 
gales,  it  was  the  fourth  day  from  parting  that  the  boat  was 
found  by  Dr.  Livingstone,  who  was  coming  on  in  search  of 
it  with  only  two  of  his  companions. 

After  proceeding  a  short  distance  up  the  path  in  which 
ihey  had  been  lost  sight  of,  they  learned  that  it  would  take 
several  days  to  go  round  the  mountains,  and  rejoin  the  lake ; 
and  they  therefore  turned  down  to  the  bay,  expecting  to  find 


384  AEMED  MAZITU.  Chap.  XIX. 

the  boat,  but  only  saw  it  disappearing  away  to  the  north. 
They  pushed  on  as  briskly  as  possible  after  it,  but  flie 
mountain  flank  which  forms  the  coast  proyed  excessively 
tedious  and  fatiguing;  travelling  all  day,  the  distance 
made,  in  a  straight  line,  was  under  five  miles.  As  soon  as 
day  dawned,  the  march  was  resumed ;  and,  after  hearing  at 
the  first  inhabited  rock  that  their  companions  had  passed  it 
the  day  before,  a  goat  was  slaughtered  out  of  the  four  which 
they  had  with  them,  when  suddenly,  to  the  evident  con- 
sternation of  the  men,  seven  Mazitu  appeared  armed  ynih 
spears  and  shields,  with  their  heads  dressed  fantasticaUy 
with  feathers.  To  hold  a  parley.  Dr.  Livingstone  and 
Moloka,  a  Makololo  man  who  spoke  Zulu,  went  unarmed 
to  meet  them.  On  Dr.  Livingstone  approaching  them, 
they  ordered  him  to  stop,  and  sit  down  in  the  sun, 
while  they  sat  in  the  shade.  "No,  no!"  was  the  reply, 
"if  yon  sit  in  the  shade,  so  will  we."  They  then 
rattled  their  shields  with  their  clubs,  a  proceeding  which 
usually  inspires  terror ;  but  Moloka  remarked,  "  It  is  not  the 
first  time  we  have  heard  shields  rattled."  And  all  sat  down 
together.  They  asked  for  a  present,  to  show  their  Chief 
that  they  had  actually  met  strangers — something  as  evidence 
of  having  seen  men  who  were  not  Arabs.  And  they  were 
requested  in  turn  to  take  these  strangers  to  the  boat  or  to  their 
Chief.  All  the  goods  were  in  the  boat,  and  to  show  that  no  pre- 
sent such  as  they  wanted  was  in  his  pockets.  Dr.  Livingstone 
emptied  them,  turning  out,  among  other  things,  a  note-book : 
thinking  it  was  a  pistol  they  started  up,  and  said,  "Put 
that  in  again."  The  younger  men  then  became  boisterous,  and 
demanded  a  goat.  That  could  not  be  spared,  as  they  were  the 
sole  provisions.  When  they  insisted,  they  were  asked  how 
many  of  the  party  they  had  killed,  that  they  thus  b^^an  to 
divide  the  spoil ;  this  evidently  made  them  ashamed.     The 


Cbajp.  XIX.  THE  MAZITU  ALARMED,  385 

elders  were  more  reasonable ;  they  dreaded  treachery,  and 
were  as  much  afraid  of  Dr.  Livingstone  and  his  party  as  his 
men  were  of  them ;  for  on  leaving  they  sped  away  up  the 
hills  like  frightened  deer.  One  of  them,  and  probably  the 
leader,  was  married,  as  seen  by  portions  of  his  hair  sewn 
into  a  ring ;  all  were  observed  by  their  teeth  to  be  people  of 
the  country,  who  had  been  incorporated  into  the  Zulu  tribe. 

The  way  still  led  over  a  succession  of  steep  ridges  with 
ravines  of  from  500  to  1000  feet  in  depth ;  some  of  the  sides 
had  to  be  scaled  on  hands  and  knees,  and  no  sooner  was  the 
top  reached  than  the  descent  began  again.  Each  ravine  had 
a  running  stream;  and  the  whole  country,  though  so  very 
rugged,  had  all  been  cultivated,  and  densely  peopled. 
Many  banana-trees,  uncared  for  patches  of  com,  and  Congo- 
bean  bushes  attested  former  cultivation.  The  population 
had  all  been  swept  away ;  ruined  villages,  broken  utensils, 
and  human  skeletons,  met  with  at  every  turn,  told  a  sad  tale 
of  "  man's  inhumanity  to  man."  So  numerous  were  the  slain, 
that  it  was  thought  the  inhabitants  had  been  slaughtered  in 
consequence  of  having  made  raids  on  the  Zulus  for  cattle. 

We  conjectured  this  to  be  the  cause  of  the  wholesale 
butchery,  because  Zulus  do  not  usually  destroy  any  save 
the  old,  and  able-bodied  men.  The  object  of  their  raids 
in  general  is  that  the  captured  women  and  children  may  be 
embodied  into  the  tribe,  and  become  Zulus.  The  masters 
of  the  captives  are  kind  to  them,  and  the  children  are  put 
on  the  same  level  as  those  of  any  ordinary  man.  In  their 
usual  plan,  we  seem  to  have  the  condition  so  bepraised  by 
some  advocates  for  slavery.  The  members  of  small  dis- 
united commimities  are  taken  imder  a  powerful  government 
— obtain  kind  masters,  whom  they  are  allowed  to  exchange 
for  any  one  else  within  the  tribe,  and  their  children  become 
freemen.    It  is,  as  our  eyes  and  nostrils  often  found  by  the 

2  c 


386  THE  DICE  DIVINER  VANISHES.         Chap.  XIX. 

putrid  bodies  of  the  slam^  a  sad  system  neveriheless — ^yet 
by  no  means  so  bad  as  that  which,  causing  a  still  greater 
waste  of  human  life,  consigns  tiie  suryiving  victims  to  per- 
petual slavery.  The  Zulus  are  said  never  to  sell  their 
captives. 

Several  Senna  men  were  of  the  land  party ;  one  of  these, 
a  dice  diviner,  being  mortally  afraid  of  the  Mazitu  bolted  ihe 
moment  he  saw  our  visitors.  Before  again  starting,  his  com- 
rades shouted  for  him,  and  called  him  by  firing  their  muskets 
for  a  long  time ;  but  he  could  not  be  induced  to  come  out 
from  his  hiding-place. 

Continuing  the  journey  that  night  as  long  as  light  served, 
they  slept  unconsciously  on  the  edge  of  a  deep  precipice,  with- 
out fire  lest  the  Mazitu  should  see  it.  Next  morning  most 
of  the  men  were  tired  out,  the  dread  of  the  apparition  of  the 
day  before  tending  probably  to  increase  the  lameness  of 
which  they  complained.  When  told,  however,  that  aU  might 
return  to  Mankambira's  save  two,  Moloka  and  Charlie,  they 
would  not,  till  assured  that  the  act  would  not  be  considered 
one  of  cowardice.  Giving  them  one  of  the  goats  as  provision, 
another  was  slaughtered  for  the  remainder  of  the  party  who, 
having  found  on  the  rocks  a  canoe  which  had  belonged  to  one 
of  the  deserted  villages,  determined  to  put  to  sea  again ;  but 
the  craft  was  very  small,  and  the  remaining  goat,  spite  of 
many  a  threat  of  having  its  throat  cut,  jumped  and  rolled 
about  so,  as  nearly  to  capsize  it ;  so  Dr.  Livingstone  took  to 
the  shore  again,  and  after  another  night  spent  without  fire, 
except  just  for  cooking,  was  delighted  to  see  the  boat  coming 
back. 

We  pulled  that  day  to  Mankambira's,  a  distance  that  on 
shore,  with  the  most  heartbreaking  toil,  had  taken  three  days 
to  travel.  This  was  the  last  latitude  taken,  11''  44'  S.  The 
boat  had  gone  about  24'  further  to  the  northi  the  land  party 


Chap.  XIX.        THE  DICE  DIVINER  REAPPEARS.  387 

probably  half  that  distance,  bat  feyer  prevented  the  instra- 
ments  being  used.  Dr.  Kirk  and  Charles  Livingstone  were 
therefore  farthest  np  the  lake,  and  they  saw  about  20'  beyond 
their  toming-point,  say  into  the  tenth  degree  of  sonth  lati- 
tude. From  the  heights  of  at  least  a  thousand  feet,  oyer 
which  the  land  party  toiled,  the  dark  mountain  masses  on 
both  sides  of  the  lake  were  seen  closing  in.  At  this  eleva- 
tion the  view  extended  at  least  as  far  as  that  from  the  boats, 
and  it  is  believed  the  end  of  the  lake  lies  on  the  southern 
borders  of  10°,  or  the  northern  limits  of  11°,  south  latitude. 

Mankambira  thought  that  our  diviner  would  die  of  starva- 
tion in  the  mountains ;  but  he  promised  that,  if  he  survived 
and  came  to  him,  he  would  give  him  food,  and  send  him 
after  us.     A  week  afterwards  the  poor  fellow  overtook  us, 
to  the  great  delight   of  his  comrades,  who  ran  back  to 
meet  and  salute  him ;  they  danced  and  shouted  with  joy, 
and  fired  off  their  muskets.    He  had  heard,  from  his  place 
of  concealment  his  comrades  calling  for  him   and   firing, 
but   did   not  answer,  because  he  thought  that  they  were 
fighting  with  the  Mazitu.      Hunger  at  length  drove  him 
from  the  mountains.    Mankambira  treated  him  kindly,  gave 
him  food,  and  sent  him  on,  as    he  had  promised;   but  a 
set  of  lawless  fellows  between  Mankambira's  and  Marenga's 
seized  and  robbed  him,  and  put  a  slave-stick  on  his  neck, 
intending  to  sell  him  as  a  slave,  when  some  of  the  older 
men  said  that  the  English  would  come  back  and  avenge 
the  deed  if  they  stole  him.    He  was  then  let  go,  and  Ma-* 
renga  also  gave  him  food,  and  a  piece  of  bark  cloth  as  a 
covering- 
Elephants  are  numerous  on  the  borders  of  the  lake,  and 
sorprisingly  tame,  being  often  found  close  to  the  villages. 
Hippopotami  swarm  very  much  at  their  ease  in  the  creeks 
and  lagoons,  and  herds  are  sometimes  seen  in  the  lake  itself 

2  c  2 


388  HUNGRY  NATIVES.  Chap.  XIX- 

Their  tameness  arises  from  the  fact  that  poisoned  arrows 
have  no  effect  on  either  elephant  or  hippopotamus.  Fiye 
of  each  were  shot  for  food  during  our  journey.  Two 
of  the  elephants  were  females,  and  had  only  a  single 
tusk  apiece,  and  were  eadi  killed  by  the  first  shot.  It  is 
always  a  case  of  famine  or  satiety,  when  depending  on  the 
rifle  for  food — ^a  glut  of  meat  or  none  at  alL  Most  frequency 
it  is  scanty  fare,  except  when  game  is  abundant,  as  it  is  far  up 
the  Zambesi  We  had  one  morning  two  hippopotami  and  an 
elephant,  perhaps  in  all  some  eight  tons  of  meat,  and  two  days 
after  the  last  of  a  few  sardines  only  for  dinner. 

One  morning  when  sailing  past  a  pretty-thickly  inhabited 
part,  we  were  surprised  at  seeing  nine  large  buU-elephants 
standing  near  the  beach  quietly  flapping  their  gigantic  ears. 
Glad  of  an  opportunity  of  getting  some  fresh  meat,  we 
landed  and  fired  into  one.  They  all  retreated  into  a  marshy 
piece  of  ground  between  two  yiUagea  Our  men  gave  chase, 
and  fired  into  the  herd.  Standing  on  a  sand  hummock,  we 
could  see  the  bleeding  animals  throwing  showers  of  water 
with  their  trunks  over  their  backs.  The  herd  was  soon  driren 
back  upon  us,  and  a  wounded  one  turned  to  bay.  Yet  neither 
this  one,  nor  any  of  the  others,  ever  attempted  to  charge. 
Having  broken  his  legs  with  a  rifle-ball,  we  fired  into  him 
at  forty  yards  as  rapidly  as  we  could  load  and  discharge 
the  rifles.  He  simply  shook  his  head  at  each  shot,  and 
received  at  least  sixty  Enfield  balls  before  he  fell  Our 
excellent  sailor  from  the  north  of  Ireland  happened  to  fire  the 
last,  and,  as  soon  as  he  saw  the  animal  fall,  he  turned  with  an 
air  of  triumph  to  the  Doctor  and  exclaimed,  ^^It  was  my  shot 
that  done  it,  sir  I " 

In  a  few  minutes,  upwards  of  a  thousand  natives  were  round 
the  prostrate  king  of  beasts ;  and,  after  our  men  had  taken  all 
they  wanted,  an  invitation  was  given  to  the  villagers  to  take 


Chap.  XIX  ARAB  GEOGRAPHY.  389 

the  remainder.  They  rushed  at  it  like  hungry  hyenas,  and 
in  an  incredibly  short  time  every  inch  of  it  was  carried  off. 
It  was  only  by  knowing  that  the  meat  would  all  be  used,  that 
we  felt  justified  in  the  slaughter  of  this  noble  creature.  The 
tusks  weighed  62  lbs.  eaclu  A  large  amount  of  ivory  might 
be  obtained  from  the  people  of  Nyassa,  and  we  were  frequently 
told  of  their  having  it  in  their  huts. 

While  detained  by  a  storm  on  the  17th  October  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Eaombe,  we  were  visited  by  several  men  belong- 
ing to  an  Arab  who  had  been  for  fourteen  years  in  the  interior 
at  Katanga's,  south  of  Cazembe's.  They  had  just  brought 
down  ivory,  malachite,  copper  rings,  and  slaves  to  exchange 
for  cloth  at  the  lake.  The  malachite  was  said  to  be  dug  out 
of  a  large  vein  on  the  side  of  a  hill  near  Katanga's.  They 
^ew  Lake  Tanganyika  well,  but  had  not  heard  of  the  Zambesi 
They  spoke  quite  positively,  saying  that  the  water  of  Lake 
Tanganyika  flowed  out  by  the  opposite  end  to  that  of  Nyassa. 
As  they  had  seen  neither  of  the  overflows,  we  took  it  simply  a^ 
a  piece  of  Arab  geography.  We  passed  their  establishment 
of  long  sheds  next  day,  and  were  satisfied  tiiat  the  Arabs  must 
be  driving  a  good  trade.  It  is  difiScult  to  get  at  facts,  or 
draw  out  of  the  natives  any  reliable  information  respecting 
the  country  in  front*  Some  are  so  suspicious  of  strangers  that 
they  show  extreme  caution  in  their  answers,  and  are  unwilling 
to  commit  themselves  by  any  statement ;  while  others  draw 
largely  upon  their  imagination,  and  tell  marvels  equal  to  the 
most  romancing  tales  of  ancient  travellers,  or  say  just  what 
they  think  will  please  one. 

**  How  far  is  it  to  the  end  of  the  lake  ?'*  we  inquired  of  an 
intelligent-looking  native  at  the  south  part.  "  The  other  end 
of  the  lake!"  he  exclaimed,  in  real  or  well-feigned  astonish- 
ment, "  who  ever  heard  of  such  a  thing  ?  Why,  if  one  started 
when  a  mere  boy  to  walk  to  the  other  end  of  the  lake,  he 


890 


THE  LAKE  SLAVE-TRADE. 


Chap.  JLUL 


would  be  an  old  grey-headed  man  before  he  got  there.  I 
never  heard  of  such  a  thing  being  attempted."  We  were 
told  on  the  Bovuma  that  that  river  flowed  out  of  Nyassa ;  and 
on  the  lower  half  of  the  lake  every  one  assured  us  that  a 
canoe  could  sail  out  of  Nyassa  into  the  Bovuma ;  but  above 
that,  their  testimony  differed^  some  saying  that  it  ran  near  the 
lake  but  not  out  of  it,  and  others  were  equally  positive  that  it 
was  several  days'  journey  from  Lake  Nyassa.  Mankambira 
had  never  heard  of  any  large  river  in  the  north,  and  even 
denied  its  existence  altogether ;  giving  us  at  the  same  time 
the  names  of  the  different  halting-places  round  the  head  of 
the  lake,  and  the  number  of  days  required  to  reach  the  coast 
opposite  his  village ;  which  corresponded,  as  nearly  as  we  oould 
judge,  with  the  distance  at  which  we  have  placed  its  end* 

The  Lake  slave-trade  was  going  on  at  a  terrible  rate. 
Two  enterprising  Arabs  had  built  a  dhow,  and  were  runnii^ 
her,  crowded  with  slaves,  regularly  across  the  Lake.  We 
were  told  she  sailed  the  day  before  we  reached  their  head- 
quarters. This  establishment  is  in  the  latitude  of  the  Portu* 
guese  slave-exporting  town  of  Iboe,  and  partly  supplies  that 
vile  market ;  but  the  greater  number  of  the  slav^  go  to 
Kilwa.*     We    did    not   see  much  evidence  of  a  wish  to 


**  On  one  occasion  one  of  onr  croi- 
sers,  the  Wasp,  when  calling  at  Iboe, 
was  taken  for  a  large  slaver  just  then 
expected.  The  slayes  in  the  vicinity 
were  all  hurried  into  the  town,  and, 
when  Captain  J.  0.  Stirling  landed,  it 
was  full  of  them.  Our  friend  Major 
Sioard  was  at  the  time  Acting-Go- 
yemor  of  Iboe,  though  very  much 
against  his  own  wishes.  It  had  be- 
come public  that  the  late  Governor 
had  left,  in  certain  boxes,  vast  sums 
of  money  accumulated  by  slave-trad- 
ing, and  the  Governor- General  was 


said  to  be  veiy  much  shocked  tibat 
his  oonfidential   subordinate   should 
have  behaved  so  shamefully.     Major 
Sicard  had  just  received  the  ttianki 
of   our    Government    for    his   most 
disinterested  kindness  to  the  Expe- 
dition (and  now  that  he  has  gone, 
as  we  trust,  to  a  better  world,  we 
would  say  never  were  public  thanks 
accompanied  by  more  fervent  private 
gratitude),  and  he  was  selected  by 
the  Governor-General  to  fill  the  vacant 
post  of  Governor  at  Iboe,  until  the 
tben  recent  scandal  had  passed  away 


Chap.  XIX.        HORRORS  OP  THE  SLAYE-TRADE. 


891 


barter.  Some  ivory  was  offered  for  sale;  but  the  chief 
traffic  was  in  human  chattels.  Would  that  we  could  give  a 
comprehensive  account  of  the  horrors  of  the  slave-trade, 
with  an  approximation  to  the  number  of  lives  it  yearly 
destroys !  for  we  feel  sure  that  were  even  half  the  truth  told 
and  recognised,  the  feelings  of  men  would  be  so  thoroughly 
roused,  that  this  devilish  traffic  in  human  flesh  would  be  put 
down  at  all  risks ;  but  neither  we,  nor  any  one  else,  have  the 
statistics  necessary  for  a  work  of  this  kind.  Let  us  state 
what  we  do  know  of  one  portion  of  Africa,  and  then  every 
reader  who  believes  our  tale,  can  apply  the  ratio  of  the 
known  misery  to  find  out  the  unknown.  We  were  informed 
by  Colonel  Rigby,  late  H,M.  Political  Agent,  and  Consul  at 
Zanzibar,  ihoi  19,000  slaves  from  this  Nyassa  country  alone 
pass  annually  through  the  Custom-house  of  that  island.  This 
is  exclusive  of  course  of  those  sent  to  Portuguese  slave-ports. 
Let  it  not  be  supposed  for  an  instant  that  this  number, 
19,000,  represents  all  the  victims.  Those  taken  out  of  the 
country  are  but  a  very  small  section  of  the  sufferers.  We 
never  realized  the  atrocious  nature  of  the  traffic,  until  we 
saw  it  at  the  fountain-head.  There  truly  "Satan  has  his 
seat.^    Besides  those  actually  captured,  thousands  are  killed 


and  been  forgotten.  Major  Sicard 
protested  against  being  thns  placed 
over  a  nest  of  slave-dealers,  from 
which  it  is  scarcely  possible  for  any 
Portngueee  to  escape  with  untarnished 
honour ;  and  naturally  feared  that  the 
position  he  bad  acquired  by  receiying 
the  thanks  of  the  Elnglish  Gk)yemment 
would  be  seriously  affected  by  such 
questionable  promotion.  His  remon- 
Btranoes  were  aU  in  vain,  for  the 
Gk)yemor-Genera]  insisted,  and  as  a  sol- 
dier our  Mend  had  nothing  left  but  to 
€ibej.  When  Captain  Stirling  landed, 


Major  Sicard  was  so  much  taken 
aback  by  his  own  fiUse  position  and 
the  crowd  of  slaves  ready  for  exporta- 
tion, that  he  could  scarcely  articulate, 
and,  forgetting  his  usual  prompt  po- 
liteness, did  not  even  ask  his  visitor  to 
sit  down.  It  is  scarcely  possible  to 
conceive  the  foioe  of  temptation  which 
must  assail  officers  in  a  place  like 
Iboe,  which  exists  only  by  its  ex- 
tensive trade  in  slaves,  and  where  any 
man  who  might  feel  squeamish  as  to 
the  profits  would  be  universally  es- 
teemed a  fooL 


892  LAKGE  SLAVE-PARTY.  Chap.  XIX. 

and  die  of  their  wonnds  and  famine,  driven  from  their  Tillages 
by  the  slave  raid  proper.    Thousands  perish  in  internecine 
war  waged  for  slaves  with  their  own  clansmen  and  neigh- 
bours, slain  by  the  lust  of  gain,  which  is  stimulated,  be  it  re- 
membered always,  by  the  slave  purchasers  of  Cuba  and 
elsewhere.    The  many  skeletons  we  have  seen,  amongst  rocks 
and  woods,  by  the  little  pools,  and  along  the  paths  of  the 
wilderness,  attest  the  awful  sacrifice  of  human  life,  which 
must  be  attributed,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  this  trade  of  helL 
We  would  ask  our  countrymen  to  believe  us  when  we  say,  as 
we  conscientiously  can,  that  it  is  our  deliberate  opinion  from 
what  we  know  and  have  seen,  that  not  one-fifth  of  the  victims  of 
the  slave-trade  ever  become  slaves.    Taking  the  Shire  Valley 
as  an  average,  we  should  say  not  even  one-tenth  arrive  at 
their  destination.    As  the  system,  therefore,  involves  such 
an  awful  waste  of  human  life, — or  shall  we  say  of  human 
labour  ? — and  moreover  tends  directly  to  perpetuate  the  bar- 
barism of  those  who  remain  in  the  country,  the  argument 
for  the  continuance  of  this  wasteful  course  because,  forsooth, 
a  fraction  of  the  enslaved  may  find  good  masters,  seems  of  no 
great  value.    This  reasoning,  if  not  the  result  of  ignorance, 
may  be  of  maudlin  philanthropy.    A  small  armed  steamer 
on  Lake  Nyassa  could  easily,  by  exercising  a  control,  and 
furnishing  goods  in  exchange  for  ivory  and  other  products, 
break  the  neck  of  this  infamous  traffic  in  that  quarter ;  for 
nearly  all  must  cross  the  Lake  or  the  Upper  Shire. 

Our  exploration  of  the  Lake  extended  from  the  2nd 
September  to  the  27th  October,  1861 ;  and,  having  expended 
or  lost  most  of  the  goods  we  had  brought,  it  was  necessary  to 
go  back  to  the  ship.  When  near  the  southern  end,  on  our 
return,  we  were  told  that  a  very  large  slave-party  had  just 
crossed  to  the  eastern  side.  We  heard  the  fire  of  three  guns 
in  the  evening,  and  judged  by  the  report  that  they  must  be 


Chap.  XIX  ?EED  HUTS  IN  PAPYRUS.  393 

at  least  Bix-ponnders.    They  were  said  to  belong  to  an  Ajawa 
Chief  named  Mukata. 

In  descending  the  Shire,  we  fonnd  concealed  in  the  broad 
belt  of  papyrus  round  the  lakelet  Pamalombe,  into  which  the 
riyer  expands,  a  number  of  Manganja  families  who  had  been 
driven  from  their  homes  by  the  Ajawa  raids.  So  thickly  did 
the  papyrus  grow,  that  when  beat  down  it  supported  their 
small  temporary  huts,  though  when  they  walked  fix)m  one 
hut  to  another,  it  heayed  and  bent  beneath  their  feet  as  thin 
ice  does  at  home* 

A  dense  and  impenetrable  forest  of  the  papyrus  was  left 
standing  between  them  and  the  land,  and  no  one  passing  by  on 
the  same  side  would  ever  haye  suspected  that  human  beings 
lived  there.  They  came  to  this  spot  from  the  south  by  means 
of  their  canoes,  which  enabled  them  to  obtain  a  living  from 
the  fine  fish  which  abound  in  the  lakelet.  They  had  a  large 
quantity  of  excellent  salt  sewed  up  in  bark,  some  of  which  we 
bought,  our  own  having  run  out.  We  anchored  for  the  night 
off  their  floating  camp,  and  were  visited  by  myriads  of 
mosquitoes.  Some  of  the  natives  show  a  love  of  country 
quite  surprising.  We  saw  fugitives  on  the  moimtains,  in  the 
north  of  the  lake,  who  were  persisting  in  clinging  to  the  haunts 
of  their  boyhood  and  youth,  in  spite  of  starvation  and  the 
continual  danger  of  being  put  to  death  by  the  Mazitu. 

A  few  miles  below  the  lakelet  is  the  last  of  the  great 
8laye-croBdi>g8.  Since  the  Ajawa  invasion  tixe  villages  ou 
the  left  bank  had  been  abandoned,  and  the  people,  as 
we  saw  in  our  ascent,  were  living  on  the  right  or  western 
bank. 

As  we  were  resting  for  a  few  minutes  opposite  the  valuable 
fishery  at  Movunguti,  a  young  effeminate-looking  man  from 
some  sea-coast  tribe  came  in  great  state  to  have  a  look  at  us. 
He  walked  under  a  large  umbrella,  and  was  followed  by  five 


S94  SENSIBLE  OLD  WOUAN.  Chat.  SIX 

handsome  damsels  ga3y  dressed  and  adorned  witli  a  view  to 
attract  purcliaserB.  One  was  carrying  his  pipe  for  smoking 
bang,  here  called  "chamba;"  another  his  bow  and  arrowB; 
a  third  his  bsttle-aze ;  a  fourth  one  of  his  robee ;  while  the 
htst  was  ready  to  take  his  nmbrella  when  he  felt  tired.  This 
show  of  his  merchandise  was  to  excite  the  cupidity  of  any 
Chief  who  had  irory,  and  may  be  called  the  lawful  way  of 
carrying  on  the  al&Te-trade.  What  proportion  it  bean  to  tiw 
other  ways  in  which  we  have  seen  this  traffic  poiBaed,  we 
never  found  means  of  fomiiDg  a  judgment  He  sat  and  looked 
at  us  for  a  few  minutes,  the  young  ladies  kneeling  behind 
him ;  and,  having  satisfied  himself  that  we  were  not  likely  to 
be  customers,  he  departed. 

On  our  first  trip  we  met,  at  the  landing  opposite  this  place, 
a  middle-aged  woman  of  considerable  intelligence,  and  poa- 
gessing  more  knowledge  of  the   country  than    any  of  the 


Ld  <dd  ItiDipnJa  Wimvi,  ibowlng  the  pdcle  or  Ilp-ring  imd  Um  tinootiig  In  lol 


Chap.  XIX  MARAUDING  AJAWA*  395 

men.  Our  first  definite  information  about  Lake  Nyassa  was 
obtained  firom  her.  Seeing  us  taking  notes^  she  remarked 
that  she  had  been  to  the  sea,  and  had  there  seen  white  men 
writing.  She  had  seen  camels  also,  probably  among  the  Arabs. 
She  was  the  only  Manganja  woman  we  ever  met,  who  was 
ashamed  of  wearing  the  "  pelele,"  or  lip-ring.  She  retired  to 
her  hut,  took  it  out^  and  kept  her  hand  before  her  mouth  to 
hide  the  hideous  hole  in  the  lip  while  conversing  with  us. 
All  the  villagers  respected  her,  and  even  the  headmen  took  a 
secondary  place  in  her  presence.  On  inquiring  for  her  now, 
we  found  that  she  was  dead.  We  never  obtained  sufficient 
materials  to  estimate  the  relative  mortality  of  the  highlands 
and  lowlands ;  but,  from  many  very  old  white-headed  blacky 
having  been  seen  on  the  highlands,  we  think  it  probable 
that  even  native  races  are  longer  lived  the  higher  their 
dwelling-places  are. 

We  landed  below  at  Mikena's  and  took  observations  for 
longitude,  to  verily  those  taken  two  years  before.  The  village 
was  deserted,  Mikena  and  his  people  having  fled  to  the  other 
side  of  the  river.  A  few  had  come  across  this  morning  to  work 
«in  their  old  gardens.  After  completing  the  observations  we 
had  breakfast;  and,  as  the  last  of  the  things  were  being  car- 
ried into  the  boat,  a  Manganja  man  came  running  down  to  his 
canoe,  crying  out,  *'  The  Ajawa  have  just  kiUed  my  comrade  1 " 
We  shoved  off*,  and  in  two  minutes  the  advanced  guard  of  a 
large  marauding  party  were  standing  with  their  muskets  on 
the  spot  where  we  had  taken  breakfast.  They  were  evidently 
surprised  at  seeing  us  there,  and  halted;  as  did  also  the 
main  body  of  perhaps  a  thousand  men.  "KUl  them,"  cried 
the  Manganja;  ^'they  are  going  up  to  the  hQls  to  kill  the 
English,"  meaning  the  Missionaries  we  had  left  at  Magomero. 
But  having  no  prospect  of  friendly  communication  with  them, 
nor  confidence  in  Manganja's  testimony,  we  proceeded  down 


396  MANGANJA  FUGITIVES.  Chap.  XIX. 

the  river ;  leaving  the  Ajawa  sitting  under  a  large  baobab, 
and  the  Manganja  cursing  them  most  energetically  across 
the  river. 

On  our  way  up,  we  had  seen  that  the  people  of  Zimika  had 
taken  refuge  on  a  long  island  in  the  Shire,  where  they  had 
placed  stores  of  grain  to  prevent  it  falling  into  the  hands  of  the 
Ajawa ;  supposing  afterwards  that  the  invasion  and  war  were 
past,  they  had  removed  back  again  to  the  mainland  on  the 
east,  and  were  living  in  fancied  security.  On  approaching 
the  Chiefs  village,  which  was  built  in  the  midst  of  a  beau- 
tiful grove  of  lofty  wild-fig  and  palm  trees,  sounds  of  revelry 
fell  upon  our  ears.  The  people  were  having  a  merry  time 
—drumming,  dancing,  and  drinking  beer— while  a  powerful 
enemy  was  close  at  hand,  bringing  death  or  slavery  to  every 
one  in  the  village.  One  of  our  men  called  out  to  several  who 
came  to  the  bank  to  look  at  us,  that  the  Ajawa  were  coming 
and  were  even  now  at  Mikena's  village ;  but  they  were  dazed 
with  drinking,  and  took  no  notice  of  the  warning. 

In  passing  a  temporary  village  of  Manganja  fugitives,  we 
saw  a  poor  fellow  with  his  neck  in  a  slave-stick,  and  landed 
a  few  hundred  feet  below ;  but  when  we  walked  up  to  £he^ 
spot  at  which  he  had  been,  he  had  vanished,  and  every  one 
denied  having  seen  such  a  person  there.  Though  suffering 
so  terribly  from  the  slave-trade  themselves,  these  Manganja 
still  patronized  it.  A  man,  near  whose  temporary  hut  we 
slept  among  a  crowd  of  fugitives,  started  even  before  san- 
rise,  to  sell  a  boy  to  some  black  Portuguese  who  were 
purchasing  slaves  in  a  neighbouring  village.  The  fortune 
of  war  had  brought  this  poor  boy  into  the  fdQow's  power, 
and  the  heartlessness  of  the  ruffian,  who  had  himself  suf- 
fered the  loss  of  everything  by  the  slave-hunters,  made  us 
look  upon  him  and  his  race  as  without  natural  affection. 
Selling  each  other,  when  on  the  point  of  perishing  by 


Ohap.  XIX  TETTE  SLAVERS.  397 

starration,  not  for  grain,  but  doth,  of  which  there  was  no 
great  lack,  was  so  very  unnatural,  that  at  first  we  felt  as  if  no 
mortal  men,  except  blacks,  could  be  guilty  of  such  cruelty ; 
and  began  to  speculate  how  the  idea  of  property  in  human  kind 
could  ever  enter  into  beings  possessing  reasonable  minds  like 
our  own.  We  remembered,  however,  having  seen  a  man  who 
was  reputed  humane,  and  in  whose  veins  no  black  blood  flowed, 
parting  for  the  sum  of  twenty  dollars,  or  about  4Z.,  with  a 
good-looking  girl,  who  stood  in  a  closer  relationship  to  him, 
than  this  boy  did  to  the  man  who  excited  our  ire ;  and,  she 
being  the  nurse  of  his  son  besides,  both  son  and  nurse  made 
such  a  pitiable  wail  for  an  entire  day,  that  even  the  half- 
caste  who  had  bought  her  relented,  and  offered  to  return  her 
to  the  white  man,  but  in  vain.  Community  in  suffering 
does  not  always  beget  sympathy,  though  we  naturally 
expect  it  should.  This  was  proved  in  the  case  of  the  wreck 
of  the  French  transport  ship  Medusa,  on  the  West  Coast, 
and  may  not  be  peculiar  to  black  men. 

The  Tette  slavers  subsequently  brought  over  com  (mapira) 
and  therewith  bought  many  slaves.  This  might  be  con- 
sidered in  one  sense  humane,  as  it  actually  kept  many 
poor  creatures  from  death  by  starvation  ;  but,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  "removal  to  kind  masters"  scheme,  the  saviours 
of  lives  are  actually  the  destroyers  of  all  the  lives  that  are 

lost. 

A  number  of  elephants  were  standing  near  the  spot  where 
we  left  the  boat,  and  one  of  the  herd  was  engaged  in  the 
elephantine  amusement  of  breaking  down  trees  ;  he  did  not 
eat  any  part  of  them,  but  simply  rejoicing  in  his  strength 
was  knocking  them  over  for  the  mere  fun  of  the  thing. 
Three  Enfield  and  other  rifle  balls  in  the  head  sent  him 
rushing  through  the  thick  bush  with  apparently  as  much  ease, 
as  if  it  were  only  grass :  an  immense  number  of  trees  are 


398  CONDUCT  OP  THE  MANGANJA.         Chap.  XIX, 

destroyed  by  these  huge  beasts.     They  fireqaently  chew  the 
branches  for  the  bark  and  the  sap  alone. 

Crowds  of  carriers  offered  their  services  after  we  left  the 
river.  Several  sets  of  them  placed  so  much  confidence  in 
nSy  as  to  decline  receiving  payment  at  the  end  of  the  first 
day ;  they  wished  to  work  another  day,  and  so  receive  botii 
days'  wages  in  one  piece.  The  young  headman  of  a  new 
village  himself  came  on  with  his  men.  The  march  was  a 
pretty  long  one,  and  one  of  the  men  proposed  to  lay  tiie 
burdens  down  beside  a  hut  a  mile  or  more  from  the  next 
village.  The  headman  scolded  the  fellow  for  his  meanness 
in  wishing  to  get  rid  of  our  goods  where  we  could  not 
procure  carriers,  and  made  him  carry  them  on.  The  village, 
at  the  foot  of  the  cataracts,  had  increased  very  much 
in  size  and  wealth  since  we  passed  it  on  our  way  up.  A 
number  of  large  new  huts  had  been  built ;  and  the  people 
had  a  good  stock  of  cloth  and  beads.  We  could  not 
account  for  this  sudden  prosperity,  until  we  saw  some  fine 
large  canoes,  instead  of  the  two  old,  leaky  things  which  lay 
there  before.  This  had  become  a  crossing-place  for  the  slaves 
that  the  Portuguese  agents  were  carrying  to  Tette,  because 
they  were  afraid  to  take  them  across  nearer  to  where  the  ship 
lay,  about  seven  miles  oS.  Nothing  was  more  disheartening 
than  this  conduct  of  the  Manganja,  in  profiting  by  the  entire 
breaking  up  of  their  nation.  It  was  nearly  as  bad  as  the 
.  behaviour  of  our  own  countrymen,  who  bought  up  muskets 
and  sent  them  out  to  the  Chinese  engaged  in  war  with  oar 
own  soldiers ;  or  of  those  who,  at  the  Cape,  supplied  ammu- 
nition to  the  Kaffirs,  under  similar  circumstances,  and  coolly 
fistthered  the  traffic  on  the  Missionaries. 


Chap.  XIX.  EXTRACT  FROM  COL.  RIGBTS  DESPATCH.       399 


Extract  cf  DeqxEtch  from  Z(eut.'OoL 
C.  P.  Right,  ff.  M.  Conmd  and  British 
Agentf  Zanzibar,  io  H.  £.  Aitdebson, 
Etq^  Secretary  to  Oocemment,  Bom' 
hay, 

"Bsmn  GoareuLATifr  Zajoxbar, 

"Sib,  **i6a.^y,iM0L 

"I  haTe  the  honour  to  report;  for 
the  information  of  the  Right  Hon.  the 
GoTemor  in  Conncil,  that  Dr.  Albrect 
Roscher,  a  gentleman  who  was  sent 
by  HiB  Majesty  the  King  of  Bavaria 
on  a  scientific  miadon  to  B.  A&ica, 
was  murdered  on  the  19th  of  March 
last,  at  ihe  village  of  Klsoongoonee, 
three  days'  jonmey  to  the  north-east 
of  Lake  Nyaaaa." 

•        :»       •       i>        •       • 

After  some  information  bearing  on 
Dr.  Boseher's  other  movements,  the 
despatch  proceeds : — 

**4.  He  again  left  Zanzibar  in  Jnne, 
1859,  to  explore  the  great  lake  of 
Hyassa,  and,  having  joined  a  caravan 
at  Keelwa»  started  from  that  part  on 
the  24th  of  August  last,  and  reached 
the  Lake  on  the  19th  of  November, 
being  the  first  white  man  who  has 
ever  reached  its  shores." 

[The  reason  of  CoL  Rigby's  mis- 
take was,  that  sufficient  time  had  not 
elapsed  for  the  news  of  our  discovery 
of  Nyassa  to  reach  him  at  Zanzibar ; 
nor  was  it  then  known  that  the  Lake 
*Dr.  Boscher  and  we  had  both  visited 
was  one  and  the  same.  It  does  not  in 
the  least  detract  from  the  honour  due 
to  Dr.  Roscher  for  reaching  the  Lake 
by  a  path  totally  distinct  from  ours, 
that  others  had  preceded  him  in  the 
discovery ;  but,  for  the  sake  of  accu- 
raey,  it  is  necessary  to  produce  the 
grounds  on  which  the  precedence  in 


the  exploration  is  claimed  by  the  Eng- 
lish.] 

"He  was  in  veiy  bad  health  when 
he  left  Zanzibar,  and  became  so  weak 
on  the  jonmey,  that  he  was  earned  in 
a  oot  all  the  latter  part  of  it. 

**  He  remained  at  Aiimsioo,  on  the 
borders  of  the  Lake,  nearly  four 
months.  On  the  16Ui  of  March  last 
he  left  Nuesewi  to  go  to  the  River 
Rovmna,  which  is  crossed  about  twdve 
days*  journey  from  Lake  Nyassa  on 
the  road  to  Keekoa,  He  evidently  in- 
tended to  return  to  the  Lake  from  the 
Bovumoj  as  he  left  nearly  all  his  bag- 
gage in  charge  of  the  Sultan  of  Nue- 
9ewa,  and  was  only  accompanied  by 
two  negro-servants  and  two  porters 
for  his  luggage,  viz.,  one  man  and  one 
woman.*' 

The  despatch  is  long  and  frill  of 
details  and  depositioDS.  Dr.  Roscher's 
friend  Kingomanga,  the  Sultan  of 
Nussewa,  lives  three  days  from  the 
Lake,  and  probably  opposite  Kotakoia 
Bay,  or  even  frirther  south,  and  is  of 
the  Waiao  tribe. 

The  depositions  of  the  natives  aie 
very  interesting,  as  they  show  con- 
clusively that  Roscher  heard  of  us. 
Colonel  Rigby  thinks  that  Dr.  Roscher 
had  been  told  of  the  trip  we  had  made 
to  Shirwa,  or  as  he  writes  it  Kirwa, 
"  where,*'  he  remarks,  *'  the  natives  of 
Nussewa  go  for  salt"  But  it  is  more 
likely  that  he  heard  of  our  arrival  at 
the  southern  end  of  Nyassa  where  the 
Shire  flows  from  it,  where  there  are 
immense  salt  washings,  and  where  we 
came  in  contact  with  a  party  of  coftst 
Arabs  who  fled  by  night,  and  would 
take  the  road  through  the  Ajawa 
country  in  which  Roscher  arrived 
two  months  later* 


400  BISHOP  MACKENZIE.  Ckaf.  TL 


CHAPTER  XX. 

Bnoooraging  protpects —  Bishop  Mackenzie — Oar  piogiefls  down  river  arrested 

—  Riyer  flooded  in  January,  1862  — Mariano  reenmes  his  career  of  slave- 
hunting  —  The  Governor  plays  at  hide  and  se^  with  him  — Obtain  Alfei 

—  Beach  the  Zambesi  —  A  slave-owner's  ideas  of  his  slaves — Wisdom  and 
humanity  of  Napoleon  IIL  —  At  Luabo  — Arrival  of  H.M.8.  Gorgon —The 
Pioneer  out  of  repair — Captain  Wilson  proceeds  up  the  Shire — Oontioiia- 
tion  of  story  of  the  Bishop's  Mission  —  He  descends  the  Shire  in  a  ianall 
canoe  —  Loses  clothing,  medicine,  &c. — Fever  —  Death  and  burial— Hia 
character — Kindness  of  Makololo — Death  of  Mr.  Burrup — Oaptain  Wilson 
returns  to  Shupanga — The  Bev.  James  Stewart  examines  the  country  pre- 
vious to  attempting  a  Mission  by  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland — Portugofise 
policy  and  slave-trading  are  the  chief  obstacles  to  any  Mission — Pereonal 
responsibility  ignored  and  blame  put  on  others  —  Mrs.  Living^xme's  illDGSB, 
and  death  27th  April,  1862. 

We  reached  the  ship  on  the  8th  of  November,  1861,  in  a 
very  weak  condition,  haying  suffered  more  fix)m  hunger  than 
on  any  previous  trip.  Heavy  rains  commenced  on  the  9th, 
and  continued  several  days;  the  river  rose  rapidly,  and 
became  highly  discoloured.  Bishop  Mackenzie  came  down  to 
the  ship  on  the  14th,  with  some  of  the  Pioneer's  men,  who 
had  been  at  Magomero  for  the  benefit  of  their  health,  and 
also  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  the  Mission.  The  Bishop 
appeared  to  be  in  excellent  spirits,  and  thought  that  the 
future  promised  fair  for  peace  and  usefulness.  The  Ajawa 
having  been  defeated  and  driven  off  while  we  were  on  the 
Lake,  had  sent  word  that  they  desired  to  live  at  peace  with 
the  English.  Many  of  the  Manganja  had  settled  round 
Magomero,  in  order  to  be  under  the  protection  of  the  Bishop; 
and  it  was  hoped  that  the  slave-trade  would  soon  cease  in 
the  highlands,  and  the  people  be  left  in  the  secure  enjoyment 
of  their  industry.   The  Mission,  it  was  also  anticipated,  might 


CfeAP.  XX.  OUR  PROGRESS  ARRESTED.  401 

soon  become,  to  a  considerable  degree,  selfHsnipporting,  and 
raise  certain  kinds  of  food^  like  the  Portugaese  of  Senna  and 
Qoillimane.  Mr.  Bnrmp,  an  energetic  young  man,  had 
arrived  at  Chibisa's  the  day  before  the  Bishop,  having 
come  np  the  Shire  in  a  canoe.  A  surgeon  and  a  lay  brother 
followed  behind  in  another  canoe.  The  Pioneer's  draught 
being  too  much  for  the  upper  part  of  the  Shire,  it  was  not 
deemed  advisable  to  bring  her  up,  on  the  next  trip,  further 
than  the  Buo ;  the  Bishop,  therefore,  resolved  to  explore  the 
country  from  Magomero  to  the  mouth  of  that  river,  and  to 
meet  the  ship  with  his  sisters  and  Mrs.  Burrup,  in  January. 
This  was  arranged  before  parting,  and  then  the  good  Bishop 
and  Burrup,  whom  we  were  never  to  meet  again,  left  us; 
they  gave  and  received  three  hearty  English  cheers  as  they 
went  to  the  shore,  and  we  steamed  off. 

The  rains  ceased  on  the  14th,  and  the  waters  of  the  Shire 
fell,  even  more  rapidly  than  they  had  risen.  A  shoal,  twenty 
miles  below  Chibisa's,  checked  our  further  progress,  and  we 
lay  there  five  weary  weeks,  till  the  permanent  rise  of  the  river 
took  place.  During  this  detention,  with  a  large  marsh  on 
each  side,  the  first  death  occurred  in  the  Expedition  which 
had  now  been  three-and-a-half  years  in  the  country.  The 
carpenter's  mate,  a  fine,  healthy  young  man,  was  seized  with 
fever»  The  usual  remedies  had  no  effect;  he  died  suddenly 
while  we  were  at  evening  prayers,  and  was  buried  on  shore. 
He  came  out  in  the  Pioneer,  and,  with  the  exception  of 
a  slight  touch  of  fever  at  the  mouth  of  the  Bovuma,  had 
enjoyed  perfect  health  all  the  time  he  had  been  with  us. 
The  Portuguese  are  of  opinion  that  the  European  who  has  im- 
munity from  this  disease  for  any  length  of  time  after  he 
enters  the  country  is  more  likely  to  be  cut  off  by  it  when  it 
does  come,  than  the  man  who  has  it  frequently  at  first 

The  rains  became  pretty  general  towards  the  close  of  Decem- 

2  D 


402  RETUBN  OP  MABIANO.  Chap.  XX, 

ber,  and  the  Shire  was  in  flood  in  the  beginning  of  Janoary, 
1862.  At  oar  wooding-place,  a  mile  above  the  Boo,  the 
water  wb3  three  feet  higher  than  it  was  when  we  were  here 
in  June ;  and  on  the  night  of  the  6th  it  rose  ei^teen  inches 
more^  and  swept  down  an  immense  amount  of  brushwood 
and  logs  which  swarmed  with  beetles,  and  the  two  kinds  of 
shells  which  are  common  all  over  the  African  continent. 
Natives  in  canoes  were  busy  q)earing  fish  in  the  meadows 
and  creeks,  and  appeared  to  be  taking  them  in  great  numbers. 
Spur-winged  geese,  and  others  of  the  knob-nosed  species, 
took  advantage  of  the  low  gardens  being  flooded,  and  came 
to  pilfer  the  beans.  As  we  passed  the  Ruo,  on  the  7th,  and 
saw  nothing  of  the  Bishc^,  we  concluded  that  he  had  heard 
from  his  surgeon  of  our  detention,  and  had  deferred  his 
journey.    He  arrived  there  flve  days  after,  on  the  12th. 

We  heard  at  Mboma's  village,  that  the  notcflious  rebel- 
robber  and  murderer,  Mariano,  had  been  allowed  to  return 
from  Mosambique,  and  was  at  his  old  trade  again,  of  kidnap- 
ping the  Manganja,  and  selling  them  to  the  people  of  Quilli* 
mane  as  slaves.  He  had  already  desolated  a  large  portion 
of  the  right  bank,  and  the  people  of  this  village  were  living  in 
constant  dread  of  a  visit  from  his  armed  marauders^  On 
coming  to  the  Zambesi,  we  found  that  the  Portuguese  had 
lately  made  a  station  on  an  island  opposite  the  mouth  of 
the  Shire.  Captain  Alvez, — ^Mozinga,  or  Big  Gun,  as  the 
natives  called  him, — was  the  officer  in  command,  and  came  on 
board  after  we  dropped  anchor*  The  Governor  had  desired 
him  to  assure  us  that  the  occupation  of  the  island  was  only 
temporary,  and  solely  in  consequence  of  Mariano's  esd^ 
and  rebellion. 

It  appears  that  this  half-caste  rebel,  notwithstanding  all 
his  notorious  robberies  and  murders,  and  his  actual  rebellioa 
and  war,  had  been  tried  at  Mosambique,  and  had  been  let  off 


(feAP.  XX.  GOVERNOR  OP  QUILLIMANE.  403 

with  the  mild  sentence  of  imprisonment  for  three  years,  and 
a  fine.    Not  haying  money  enough  with  him  to  pay  the  fine, 
the  Mosambique  authorities  considerately  allowed  him  to  go 
hack  to  Quillimane,  to  collect  some  debts  which  he  asserted 
were  due  to  him ;  hut,  when  he  got  there,  it  was  found  that 
his  debts  were  due  somewhere  up  the  country.    His  Quilli- 
mane  creditors,  however,  most  feelingly  petitioned  the  Gorem- 
ment  to  allow  Mariano  to  go  thither,  in  order  to  obtain  ivory 
to  pay  both  debts  and  fine.    Permission  was  graciously  given, 
and  he  was  also  allowed  to  take  several  hundreds  of  muskets 
and  much  ammunition ;  but,  instead  of  collecting  ivory,  he 
returned  to  his  own  people  up  the  Shire,  and  betook  himself 
at  once  to  his  former  course  of  robbery,  murder,  and  kidnap- 
ping, and  set  the  Portuguese  authority  at  defiance.    The 
Governor  of  Quillimane  then  declared  war  against  his  old 
enemy,  and  with  all  his  available  soldiers  and  slaves  in  a 
fleet  of  boats  and  canoes,  sailed  up  the  Shire  to  capture  the 
rebel,  but  could  not  find  him — so  sailed  down  again.    The 
whole  thing  had  the  appearance — to  the  uncharitable,  who 
knew  that  nothing  could  be  done  in  a  district,  without  the 
knowledge    of   the    Governor — of   Mariano's    having    been 
allowed  to  run  away  with  a  large  assortment  of  arms  and 
ammunition,  out  of  a  small  hamlet,  where  every  one,  by 
means  of  his  slaves,  knows  the  aflairs  of  every  one  else.    It 
is  true  the  Governor  ran  after  him,  but  at  the  pace  one  does 
after  a  child  in  play — ^and,  of  course,  could  not  catch  him.    A 
captain  was  afterwards  sent  across  the  country  with  a  force, 
and  was  more  fortunate  than  the  Governor,  for  he  reached 
Mariano,     Unluckily,  however,  instead  of  capturing  the  rebel, 
the  rebel  captured  him,  in  a  night  attack  it  was  said,  with 
all  his  ammunition  and  a  number  of  his  men.    The  captain, 
according  to  the  account  of  his  brother  oflBcers,  was  allowed 
to  depart,  after  receiving  a  present  of  ivory.    To  us,  this  was 

2  D  2 


404  CAPTAIN  ALVEZ.  Chap.  XX. 

incredibley  but  it  is  mentioned,  to  show  the  way  that  these 
men,  who  have  been  convicts,  speak  of  each  other. 

Captain  Alyez  wets  suffering  from  fever,  and  had  been,  ever 
since  he  came  to  this  low  marshy  place.  The  island  would  be 
under  water,  he  said,  if  the  river  rose  two  feet  higher,  which 
it  was  extremely  likely  to  do.  The  lonely  life  of  a  solitary 
Qfficer,  living  with  a  number  of  debased  black  soldiers,  on  such 
a  spot  as  this,  is  something  frightful  to  think  of  It  is  next 
door  to  imprisonment,  if  not  to  solitary  confinement ;  and  this 
was  the  lot  of  a  brave  artillery  officer,  who  was  sent  here  for 
some  political  offence,  and  who  had  done  all  the  hard  fight- 
ing with  the  rebels  for  a  number  of  years  back.  While  he, 
who  crushed  out  the  rebellion,  was  living  thus,  Mariano,  the 
rebel,  was  reported  for  the  last  three  years,  to  have  been 
living  sumptuously  in  the  capital  of  the  province ;  and  even 
dining  at  the  tables  of  the  highest  in  the  land.  Seeing  that 
this  sentence  of  imprisonment  at  Mosambique  was  carried  out 
so  mildly  as  not  to  amount  to  confinement  at  all,  it  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at  that  men's  tongues  should  speak  hard  things 
against  the  Gk)vemo>General,  and  that,  though,  of  course,  it 
cannot  be  actually  known,  bribery  should  be  openly  dedared 
to  have  taken  place.  We  know  nothing  more  than  the  pno- 
bability  and  general  report,  which  may  be  false.  We  uctct 
met  Mozinga  again;  he  succumbed  in  a  few  months  to 
fever. 

After  paying  our  Senna  men,  as  they  wished  to  go  home,  we 
landed  them  here.  All  were  keen  traders,  and  had  invested 
largely  in  native  iron-hoes,  axes,  and  ornaments.  Many  of 
the  hoes  and  spears  had  been  taken  from  the  slaving  parties 
whose  captives  we  liberated ;  for  on  these  occasions  our  Senna 
friends  were  always  uncommonly  zealous  and  active.  The 
remainder  had  been  purchased  with  the  old  clothes  we  had 
given  them,  and  their  store  of  hippopotamus  meat:  they 


Chap.  XX.  HEACH  THE  ZAMBESI.  405 

had  no  fears  of  losing  theniy  or  of  being  punished  for  aiding 
us.  The  system,  in  which  they  had  been  trained,  had  eradi- 
cated the  idea  of  personal  responsibility  from  their  minds. 
The  Portuguese  slaveholders  would  blame  the  English  alone, 
they  said ;  they  were  our  servants  at  the  time.  No  white 
man  on  board  could  purchase  so  cheaply  as  these  men  could* 
Many  a  time  had  their  eloquence  persuaded  a  native  trader 
to  sell  for  a  bit  of  dirty  worn  doth  things  for  which  he  had, 
bat  a  little  before,  refused  twice  the  amount  of  dean  new 
calico.  **  Scissors"  being  troubled  with  a  cough  at  night,  re- 
ceived a  present  of  a  quilted  coverlet^  which  had  seen  a  good 
deal  of  service.  A  few  days  afterwards,  a  good  chance  of 
investing  in  hoes  offering  itself  he  ripped  off  both  sides,  tore 
them  into  a  dozen  pieces,  and  purchased  about  a  dozen  hoes 
with  them. 

We  entered  the  Zambesi  on  the  11th  of  January,  and 
steamed  down  towards  the  coast,  taking  the  side  on  which 
we  had  come  up ;  but  the  channel  had  changed  to  the  other 
side  during  the  summer,  as  it  sometimes  does,  and  we  soon 
grounded.  A  Portuguese  gentleman,  formerly  a  lieutenant 
in  the  army,  and  now  living  on  Sangwisa,  one  of  the 
islands  of  the  Zambesi,  came  over  with  his  slaves,  to  aid  us 
in  getting  the  ship  off.  He  said  frankly,  that  his  people 
were  aU  great  thieves,  and  we  must  be  on  our  guard  not  to 
leave  anything  about  He  next  made  a  short  speech  to  his 
men,  told  them  he  knew  what  thieves  they  were,  but  ini- 
plored  them  not  to  steal  from  us,  as  we  would  give  them  a 
present  of  doth  when  the  work  was  done.  **  The  natives  of 
this  country,"  he  remarked  to  us,  "think  only  of  three 
things,  what  they  shall  eat  and  drink,  how  many  wives  they 
can  have,  and  what  they  may  steal  from  their  master,  if  not 
how  they  may  murder  him."  He  always  slept  with  a  loaded 
musket  by  his  side.    This  opinion  may  apply  to  slaves,  but 


406  YOUNG  WOMEN  SOLD.  Chap.  XX. 

decidedly  does  not  in  our  experience  apply  to  freemen.  We 
paid  his  men  for  helping  us,  and  believe  that  even  they, 
being  paid,  stole  nothing  from  us.  Our  friend  fanns  pretty 
extensively  the  large  island  called  Sangwisa, — ^lent  him  for 
nothing  by  Senhor  Fen^, — and  raises  large  quantities  of 
mapira  and  beans,  and  also  beautiful  white  rice,  grown 
from  seed  brought  a  few  years  ago  from  South  Carolma. 
He  furnished  us  with  some,  which  was  very  acceptable;  for, 
though  not  in  absolute  want,  we  were  living  on  beans,  salt 
pork,  and  fowls,  all  the  biscuit  and  flour  on  board  having 
been  expended. 

We  fully  expected  that  the  owners  of  the  captives  we  had 
liberated  would  show  their  displeasure,  at  least  by  their 
tongues ;  but  they  seemed  ashamed ;  only  one  ventured  a 
remark,  and  he,  in  the  course  of  common  conversation,  said, 
with  a  smile,  "You  took  the  Govemor^s  slaves,  didn't  you?" 
"  Yes,  we  did  free  several  gangs  that  we  met  in  the  Manganja 
country."  The  Portuguese  of  Tette,  from  the  Governor  down- 
wards, were  extensively  engaged  in  slaving.  The  trade  is 
partly  internal  and  partly  external :  they  send  some  of  the 
captives,  and  those  bought,  into  the  interior,  up  the  Zambesi; 
some  of  these  we  actually  met  on  their  way  up  the  river. 
The  young  women  were  sold  there  for  ivory :  an  ordinary- 
looking  one  brought  two  arrobas,  sixty-four  pounds  weight, 
and  an  extra  beauty  brought  twice  that  amount.  The  men 
and  boys  were  kept  as  carriers,  to  take  the  ivory  down  from 
the  interior  to  Tette,  or  were  retained  on  farms  on  the 
Zambesi,  ready  for  export  if  a  slaver  should  call :  of  this 
last  mode  of  slaving  we  were  witnesses  also.  The  slaves 
were  sent  down  the  river  chained,  and  in  large  canoes. 
This  went  on  openly  at  Tette,  and  more  especially  so  while 
the  French  "  Free  Emigration  "  system  was  in  full  operation. 
This  double  mode  of  disposing  of  the  captives  pays  better 


Chap.  XX.  WISDOM  OP  NAPOLEON  m.  407 

than  the  single  system  of  sending  them  down  to  the  Coast 
for  exportation.  One  merchant  at  Tette,  with  whom  we  were 
well  acquainted,  sent  into  the  interior  three  hundred  Man- 
ganja  women  to  be  sold  for  ivory,  and  another  sent  a 
hundred  and  fifty.  The  process  by  which  the  Island  of 
Bonxbon  was  allied  with  slaves  1  carried  on  with  even 
greater  effrontery  than  the  Manganja  raids.  The  Commandant 
at  Tette,  having  found  that  a  cargo  of  slaves  had  been 
taken  down  the  river  by  a  woman  of  bad  character,  for  form's 
sake  sent  an  officer  after  her.  He  followed,  overtook  her, 
but  returned  without  her.  When  spoken  to  on  the  subject, 
the  Commandant  said,  with  an  air  of  triumph,  «  The  English 
cannot  now  interfere,  while  we  have  the  French  flag  to  pro- 
tect us."  And  this  flag  did  protect  slaving  till  May,  1864. 
Of  all  the  benefits  which  the  reign  of  Napoleon  IIL  has 
f3onferred  on  his  kind,  none  does  more  credit  to  his  wisdom 
and  humanity  than  his  having  stopped  this  wretched  system. 
As  much  was  done  as  lay  in  his  power,  in  the  way  of 
regulating  the  system  of  abstrcu^tion  of  labour  from  Africa, 
by  the  appointment  of  officers  to  prevent  abuses  in  its  work- 
ing; but>  in  spite  of  every  precaution,  the  "  engagee  system  " 
became  neither  more  nor  less  than  the  abominable  slave- 
trade  in  all  its  horrors,  not  so  much  by  French  agency,  as 
by  that  of  Portuguese  and  half-castes.  Until  the  people 
are  enlightened,  every  attempt  of  the  kind  must  always 
promote  the  slave-trade  and  nothing  else. 

We  anchored  on  the  Great  Luabo  mouth  of  the  Zambesi, 
because  wood  was  much  more  easily  obtained  there  than 
at  the  Eongone.  On  the  30th,  H.  M.  S.  Oorgon  arrived, 
towing  the  brig  which  brought  Mrs.  Livingstone,  some  ladies 
about  to  join  their  relatives  in  the  Universities'  Mission,  and 
the  twenty-four  sections  of  a  new  iron  steamer  intended  for 
the  navigation  of  Lake  Nyassa.    The  Pioneer  steamed  out, 


408  ARRIVAL  OF  THE  GORGON.  Chap.  XX, 

and  towed  the  brig  into  the  Eongone  harbour.  The  new 
steamer  was  called  the  Lady  of  the  Lake,  or  the  Lady 
Nyassa,  and  as  much  as  could  be  carried  of  her  in  one 
trip  was  placed,  by  the  help  of  the  officers  and  men  of  the 
GorgoUy  on  board  the  Pioneer,  and  the  two  large  paddle-box 
boats  of  H.M.'s  ship.  We  steamed  off  for  the  Buo  on  the 
10th  of  February,  having  on  board  Captain  Wilson,  with  a 
number  of  his  officers  and  men  to  help  us  to  discharge  the 
cargo.  Our  progress  up  was  distressingly  slow.  The  river  was 
in  flood,  and  we  had  a  three-knot  current  against  us  in  many 
places.  The  engines  of  the  Pioneer  were  of  the  best  quality, 
but  had  been  entirely  neglected  by  the  engineer — ^the  pack- 
ing not  having  been  renewed  during  twenty  months.  These 
causes  delayed  us  six  months  in  the  delta,  instead  of,  as  we 
anticipated,  only  six  days ;  for,  finding  it  impossible  to  cany 
the  sections  up  to  the  Euo  without  great  loss  of  time,  it  was 
thought  best  to  land  them  at  Shupanga,  and,  putting  the 
hull  of  the  Lady  Nyassa  together  there,  to  tow  her  up  to  the' 
foot  of  the  Murchison  Cataracts. 

A  few  days  before  the  Pioneer  reached  Shupanga,  Captain 
Wilson,  seeing  the  hopeless  state  of  our  engines,  generously 
resolved  to  hasten  with  the  Mission  ladies  up  to  those  who, 
we  thought,  were  anxiously  awaiting  their  arrival,  and  there- 
fore started  in  his  gig  for  the  Euo,  taking  Miss  Mackenzie^ 
Mrs.  BuiTup,  and  his  surgeon,  Dr.  Bamsay.  They  were 
accompanied  by  Dr.  Kirk  and  Mr.  Sewell,  paymaster  of  the 
Gorgon,  in  the  whale-boat  of  the  Lady  Nya^a.  As  our  dow- 
pacedJaunch,  Ma-Bobert,  had  formerly  gone  up  to  tiie  foot  of 
the  cataracts  in  nine  days  steaming,  it  was  supposed  that  the 
boats  might  easily  reach  the  expected  meeting-place  at  the 
Euo  in  a  week ;  but  the  Shire  was  now  in  flood,  and  in  its 
most  rapid  state ;  and  they  were  longer  in  getting  up  about 
half  the  distance,  than  it  was  hoped  they  would  be  in  the 


Chap.  XX  CAPTAIN  WILSON  UP  THE  SHIRE.  409 

whole  navigable  part  of  the  river.  They  could  hear  nothing 
of  the  Bishop  from  the  Chief  of  the  island^  Malo^  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Euo.  "  No  white  man  had  ever  come  to  his  village," 
he  said.  They  proceeded  on  to  Chibisa's,  suffering  terribly 
from  mosquitoes  at  night.  Their  toil  in  stemming  the  rapid 
current  made  them  estimate  the  distance,  by  the  windings,  as 
nearer  300  than  200  miles.  The  Makololo  who  had  remained 
at  Chibisa's  told  them  the  sad  news  of  the  death  of  the  good 
Bishop  and  of  Mr.  Burmp.  Other  information  received  there 
awakened  fresh  Anxiety  on  behalf  of  the  survivors ;  so,  leaving 
the  ladies  with  Dr.  Bamsay  and  the  Makololo,  Captain  Wilson 
and  Dr.  Eork  went  up  the  hills,  in  hopes  of  being  able  to 
render  assistance,  and  on  the  way  they  met  some  of  the  Mis- 
sion party  at  Soche's.  The  excessive  fatigue  that  our  friends 
had  undergone  in  the  voyage  up  to  Chibisa's  in  no  wise 
deterred  them  from  this  further  attempt  for  the  benefit  of 
their  countrymen,  but  the  fiedi  labour,  with  diminidied 
ratidbs,  was  too  much  for  their  strength.  They  were  reduced 
to  a  diet  of  native  beans  and  an  occasional  fowl.  Both 
became  very  ill  of  fever,  Captain  Wilson  so  dangerously  that 
his  fellow-sufferer  lost  all  hopes  of  his  recovery.  His  strong 
able-bodied  cockswain  did  good  service  in  cheerftdly  carrying 
his  much-loved  Commander,  and  they  managed  to  return 
to  the  boat,  and  brought  the  two  bereaved  and  sorrow- 
stricken  ladies  back  to  the  Pioneer. 

We  learnt  that  the  Bishop,  >vishing  to  find  a  shorter  route 
down  to  the  Shire,  had  sent  two  men  to  explore  the  country 
between  Magomero  and  the  junction  of  the  Buo ;  and  in  De- 
cember Messrs.  Proctor  and  Scudamore,  with  a  number  of 
Manganja  carriers,  left  Magomero  for  the  same  purpose.  They 
were  to  go  close  to  Mount  Chore,  and  then  skirt  the  Elephant 
Marsh,  with  Mount*  Clarendon  on  their  left.  Their  guides 
seem  to  have  led  them  away  to  the  east,  instead  of  south ; 


410  .    ATTACK  ON  THE  MKSIONAEIES.         Chap.  XX, 

to  the  upper  waters  of  the  Rno  in  the  Shirwa  valley,  iDstead 
of  to  its  moutiu    Entering  an  Anguro  slave-trading  village, 
they  soon  began  to  snspect  that  the  people  meant  misdiiet 
and  jost  before  sunset  a  woman  told  some  of  their  men  that 
if  they  slept  there  they  would  all  be  killed.    On  their  pre- 
paring to  leave,  the  Anguro  followed  them  and  shot  thdi 
arrows  at  the  retreating  party.    Two  of  the  carrierB  were 
captured,  and  all  the  goods  were  taken  by  these  robbers. 
An  arrow-head  struck  deep  into  the  stock  of  Proctor's  gun; 
and  the  two  Missionaries,  barely  escaping  ^th  their  U?e8, 
swam  a  deep  river  at  nighty  and  returned  to  Magomeio 
famished  and  exhausted. 

The  wives  of  the  captive  earners  came  to  the  Bishop  day 
after  day  weeping  and  imploring  him  to  rescue  their  husbands 
from  slavery.    The  men  had  been  caught  while  in  his  serrioe, 
no  one  else  could  be  entreated ;  there  was  no  public  law  nor 
any  power  superior  to  his  own,  to  which  an  appeal  could  be 
made ;  for  in  him  Church  and  State  were,  in  the  disorgaSiked 
state  of  the  country,  virtually  united.  It  seemed  to  him  to  be 
clearly  his  duty  to  try  and  rescue  these  kidnapped  members 
of  the  Mission  family.    He  accordingly  invited  the  veteran 
Makololo  to  go  with  him  on  this  somewhat  hazardous  errand. 
Nothing  could  have  been  proposed  to  them  which  they  wodd 
have  liked  better,  and  they  went  with  alacrity  to  eat  the  sheep 
of  the  Anguro,  only  regretting  that  the  enemy  did  not  keep 
cattle  as  welL    Had  the  matter  been  left  entirely  in  their 
hands,  they  would  have  made  a  dean  sweep  of  that  part  of 
the  country ;  but  the  Bishop  restrained  them,  and  went  in  m 
open  manner,  thus  commending  the  measure  to  all  the  natives, 
as  one  of  justice.    This  deliberation,  however,  gave  the  delin- 
quents a  chance  of  escape.* 


*  On  the  way  the  Bishop  is  said  to 
baye  had  an  opportunit j  of  correcting 


a  slight  geogrophical  mistake  made 
by  Dr.  Livingstone  when  Lake  Shirm 


Chap.  XX.        THE  MISSIONARIES  SUCCESSFUL. 


411 


The  Missionaries  were  successful ;  the  offending  village 
was  burned,  and  a  few  sheep  and  goats  were  secured, 
which  could  not  be  considered  other  than  a  very  mild 
punishment  for  the  offence  committed;  the  headman, 
Muana-somba,  afraid  to  retain  the  prisoners  any  longer, 
forthwith  liberated  them,  and  they  returned  to  their  homes. 
This  incident  took  place  at  the  time  we  were  at  the  Buo  and 
during  the  rains,  and  proved  very  trying  to  the  health 
of  the  Missionaries ;  they  were  frequently  wetted,  and  had 
hardly  any  focd  but  roasted  maize.  Mr.  Scudamore  was 
never  well  afterwards.  Directly  on  their  return  to  Magomero, 
the  Bishop  and  Mr.  Burrup,  both  suffering  frx>m  diarrhoea 
in  consequence  of  wet,  hunger,  and  exposure,  started  for 
Chibisa's  to  go  down  to  the  Euo  by  the  Shire.  So  fully 
did  the  Bishop  expect  a  renewal  of  the  soaking  wet  from 
which  he  had  just  returned,  that  on  leaving  Mc^omero  he 
walked  through  the  stream.  The  rivulets  were  so  swollen 
that  it  took  five  days  to  do  a  journey  that  would  otherwise 
have  occupied  only  two  days  and  a  hall 

None  of  the  Manganja  being  willing  to  take  them  down 
the  river  during  the  flood,  three  Makololo  canoe-men  agreed 
to  go  with  them.  After  paddling  till  near  sunset,  they  de- 
cided to  stop  and  sleep  on  shore ;  but  the  mosquitoes  were 
so  numerous  that  they  insisted  on  going  on  again;  the 
Bishop,  being  a  week  behind  the  time  he  had  engaged  to 
be  at  the  Buo,  reluctantly  consented,  and  in  the  darkness 
ihe  canoe  was  upset  in  one  of  the  strong  eddies  or  whirl- 
pools, which  suddenly  boil  up  in  flood  time  near  the  out- 
going branches  of  the  river ;  clothing,  medicines,  tea,  coffee, 
and  sugar  were  all  lost    Wet.  and  weary,  and  tormented  by 


was  discovered.  A  wliite  vapour,  at 
ihat  time  resting  on  the  rich  valley  at 
the  Bouthem  end  of  the  lake*  had  led 


to  the  inference  that  the  lake  stretched 
a  lltlie  ftxrther  south  than  it  actually 
does. 


412  DEATH  OF  BISHOP  MACKENZIE.         Chap.  XX. 

mosquitoes,  they  lay  in  the  canoe  till  morning  dawned,  and 
then  proceeded  to  Malo,  an  island  at  the  mouth  of  the  Bno, 
where  the  Bishop  was  at  once  seized  with  fever. 

Had  they  been  in  their  usual  health,  they  would  doobt- 
less  have  pushed  on  to  Shupaoga,  or  to  the  ship ;  but  fever 
rapidly  prostrates  the  energies,  and  induces  a  drowsy  stupor, 
from  which,  if  not  roused  by  medicine,  the  patient  gradually 
sinks  into  the  sleep  of  death.     Still  mindful,  however,  of 
his  office,  the  Bishop  consoled  himself  by  thinking,  ibaX  he 
might  gain  the  friendship  of  the  Chie^  which  would  be  ci 
essential  service  to  him  in  his  future  labours.    That  hearUeas 
man,  however,  probably  suspicious  of  aU  foreigners  from  the 
knowledge  he  had  acquired  6f  white  slave-traders,  wanted  to 
turn  the  dying  Bishop  out  of  the  hut,  as  he  required  it  for 
his  corn,  but  yielded  to  the  expostulations  of  the  Makolola 
Day  after  day  for  three  weeks  did  these  faithful  fellows 
remain  beside  his  mat  on  the  floor ;  till,  without  medicine 
or  even  proper  food,  he  died.    They  dug  his  grave  oa  the 
edge  of  the  deep  dark  forest  where  the  natives  buried  their 
dead.  Mr.  Burrup,  himself  far  gone  with  dysentery,  staggered 
from  the  hut^  and,  as  in  the  dusk  of  evening  they  committed 
the  Bishop's  body  to  the  grave,  repeated  fix>m  memory  po^ 
tions  of  our  beautiful  service  for  the  Burial  of  the  Dead— 
**  earth  to  earth,  ashes  to  ashes,  dust  to  dust ;  in  sure  and 
certain  hope  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ."    And  in  this  sad  way  ended  the  earthly 
career  of  one,  of  whom  it  can  safely  be  said  that  for  un- 
selfish goodness  of  heart,  and  earnest  devotion  to  the  noUe 
work  he  had  undertaken,  none  of  the  commendations  of  Us 
friends  can  exceed  the  reality.    The  grave  in  which  his  body 
rests  is  about  a  hundred  yards  from  the  confluence  of  the  Buo^ 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  Shire,  and  opposite  the  island  of  Malo. 
The  Makololo  then  took  Mr.  Burrup  up  in  the  canoe  as  &x 


Chap  XX.       CAPTAIN  WILSON  AT  SHUPANGA.  413^ 

as  they  conld,  and/ making  a  litter  of  branches,  carried  him 
themselvesy  or  got  others  to  carry  him,  all  the  way  back  to 
his  oountrymen  at  Magomero.  They  hurried  him  on  lest  he* 
should  die  in  their  hands,  and  blame  be  attached  to  them. 
Soon  after  his  return  he  expired,  from  the  disease  which  wa» 
on  him  when  he  started  to  meet  his  wife. 

Captain  Wilson  arrived  at  Shupanga  on  the  11th  of 
March,  having  been  three  weeks  on  the  Shire.  On  the  15th 
the  Pioneer  steamed  down  to  the  Kongone.  The  Gorgon  had 
been  driven  out  to  sea  in  a  gale,  and  had  gone  to  Johanna  for 
provisions,  and  it  was  the  2nd  of  April  before  she  returned. 
It  was  fortunate  for  us  that  she  had  obtained  a  supply,  as  our 
provisions  were  exhausted,  and  we  had  to  buy  some  from  the 
master  of  the  brig.  The  Gorgon  left  for  the  Cape  on  the  4th, 
taking  all,  except  one,  of  the  Mission  party  who  had  come  in 
January.  We  take  this  opportunity  of  expressing  our  heart- 
felt gratitude  to  the  gallant  Captain  Wilson  and  his  ofiScers 
for  innumerable  acts  of  kindness  and  hearty  co-operation.  Our 
warmest  thanks  are  also  due  to  Captain  E.  B.  Oldfield  and 
the  other  officers  from  the  Admiral  downwards,  and  we  beg 
to  assure  them  that  nothing  could  be  more  encouraging  to  us 
in  our  difficulties  and  trials,  than  the  knowledge  that  we 
possessed  their  friendship  and  sympathy  in  our  labours. 

The  Rev.  James  Stewart,  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scot- 
land, arrived  in  the  Gorgon.  He  had  wisely  come  out  to 
inspect  the  country,  before  deciding  on  the  formation  of  a 
Mission  in  the  interior.  To  this  object  he  devoted  many 
months  of  earnest  labour.  This  Mission  was  intended  to 
embrace  both  the  industrial  and  the  religious  element ;  and, 
as  the  route  by  the  Zambesi  and  Shire  forms  the  only  one  at 
present  known,  with  but  a  couple  of  days'  land  journey  to 
the  highlands,  which  stretch  to  an  unknown  distance  into  the 
continent,  and  as  no  jealousy  was  likely  to  be  excited  in  the 


414  REV.  JAMES  STEWART.  Chap.  XX. 

mind  of  a  man  of  Bishop  Mackenzie's  enlarged  views — there 
being  moreover  room  for  hundreds  of  Missions — we  gladly 
extended  the  little  aid  in  our  power  to  an  envoy  from  the 
energetic  and  most  respectable  body  above  mentioned,  but 
recommended  him  to  examine  the  field  with  his  own  eyes. 

During  our  subsequent  detention  at  Shupanga,  he  pro- 
ceeded as  far  up  the  Shire  as  the  Upper  Cataracts,  and  saw 
the  mere  remnants  c^  that  dense  population,  which  we  at 
first  had  found  living  in  peace  and  plenty,  but  which  was 
now  scattered  and  destroyed  by  famine  and  slave-hunting. 
The  land,  which  both  before  and  after  we  found  so  £Eur  and 
fruitful,  was  burned  up  by  a  severe  drought ;  in  &ct,  it  was 
at  its  very  worst  With  most  praiseworthy  energy,  and  in 
spite  of  occasional  attacks  of  fever,  he  then  ascended  tiie 
Zambesi  as  far  as  Eebrabasa;  and,  what  may  be  of  interest 
to  some,  compared  it,  in  parts,  to  the  Danuba  His  estimate 
of  the  highlands  would  naturally  be  lower  than  ours.  The 
main  drawbacks  in  his  opinion,  however,  were  the  slave-trade, 
and  the  power  allowed  the  efiete  Portuguese  of  shutting  up 
the  country  fit)m  all  except  a  few  convicts  of  their  own 
nation.  The  time  of  his  coming  was  inopportune;  the  dis- 
asters, which  from  inexperience  had  befEdlen  the  Mission  of 
the  Universities,  had  a  depressing  effect  on  the  minds  of  many 
at  home,  and  rendered  a  new  attempt  unadvisable ;  though, 
had  the  Scotch  perseverance  and  energy  been  introduced,  it 
is  highly  probable  that  they  would  have  reacted,  most  bene- 
ficially, on  the  zeal  of  our  English  brethren,  and  desertion 
would  never  have  been  heard  of.  After  examining  the 
country,  Mr.  Stewart  descended  the  Zambesi  in  the  b^inning 
of  the  following  year,  and  proceeded  homewards  with  his 
report,  by  Mosambique  and  the  Cape. 

On  the  7th  of  April  we  had  only  one  man  fit  for  duty ;  all  the 
rest  were  down  with  fever,  or  with  the  vile  spirit  secretly  sold 


Chap.  XX.  OBSTACLES  TO  A  MISSION.  41^ 

to  them  by  tlie  Portugaese  officer  of  cnstomSy  in  spite  of  our 
earnest  request  to  him  to  refrain  from  the  pernicious  traffic. 

We  started  on  the  llih  for  Shupanga  with  another  load  of 
the  Lady  Nyassa.  As  we  steamed  up  the  Delta,  we  observed 
many  of  the  natives  wearing  strips  of  pahn-leaf,  the  signs  of 
sickness  and  mourning;  for  they  too  suffer  from  fever* 
This  is  the  unhealthy  season;  the  rains  are  over,  and  the 
hot  sun  draws  up  malaria  from  the  decayed  Tegetation ; 
disease  seemed  peculiarly  severe  this  year.  On  our  way 
up  we  met  Mr.  Waller,  who  had  come  &om  Magomero 
for  provisions ;  the  missionaries  were  suffering  severely  from 
want  of  food ;  the  hberated  people  were  starving,  and  dying 
of  diarrhoea,  and  loathsome  sores.  The  A  jawa,  stimulated  in 
their  slave  raids  by  supplies  of  ammunition  and  cloth  from 
the  Portuguese,  had  destroyed  the  large  crops  of  the  past 
year ;  a  drought  had  followed,  and  little  or  no  food  could  be 
bought.  With  his  usual  energy,  Mr.  Waller  hired  canoes, 
loaded  them  with  stores,  and  took  them  up  the  long  weary 
way  to  Chibisa's.  Before  he  arrived  he  was  informed  that 
the  Mission  of  the  Universities,  now  deprived  of  its  brave 
leader,  had  fled  from  the  highlands  down  to  the  Low  Shire 
VaDey.  This  appeared  to  us,  who  knew  the  danger  of  leading 
a  sedentary  life,  the  greatest  mistake  they  could  have  made, 
and  was  the  result  of  no  other  counsel  or  responsibility  than 
their  own.  Waller  would  have  reascended  at  once  to  the 
higher  altitude,  but  vaiious  objections  stobd  in  the  way* 
The  loss  of  poor  Scudamore  and  Dickinson,  in  this  low-lying 
situation,  but  added  to  the  regret  that  the  highlands  had 
not  received  a  fair  trial. 

When  the  news  of  the  Bishop's  unfortunate  collisions  with 
the  natives,  and  of  his  untimely  end,  reached  England, 
much  blame  was  imputed  to  him.  The  policy,  which  with 
the  formal  sanction  of  all  his  companions  he  had  adopted. 


416  THE  BISHOPS  POLICY.  Chap.  XX. 

being  directly  contraiy  to  the  advice  which  Dr.  Liyingstone 
tendered,  and  to  the  assurances  of  the  peaceable  nature  of 
the  Mission  which  the  Doctor  had  given  to  the  natives, 
a  friendly  disapproval  of  a  bishop's  engaging  in  war  was 
ventured  on,  when  we  met  him  at  Chibisa'8  in  November* 
But  when  we  found  his  conduct  regarded  with  so  mudi 
bitterness  in  England,  whether  from  a  disposition  to  ^  stand 
by  the  down  man,**  or  from  having  an  intimate  knowledge 
of  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the  country  in  which  be 
was  placed,  or  from  the  thorough  confidence  whidi  intimacy 
caused  us  to  repose  in  his  genuine  piety,  and  devout  service 
of  God,  we  came  to  think  much  more  leniently  of  his  pro- 
ceedings, than  his  assailants  did.  He  never  seemed  to  doubt 
but  that  he  had  done  his  duty;  and  throughout  he  had 
always  been  supported  by  his  associates.  One  of  them 
subsequently,  and  in  a  weak  moment^  ignoring  personal 
responsibility,  rested  all  the  blame  on  Dr.  Livingstone ;  and 
the  gentleman  who  was  designated  as  the  Bishop's  saccesBory 
declared  in  public  meetings  at  Cambridge  and  elsewhere,  in 
spite  of  the  proof  to  the  contrary  in  Bishop  Macken2de's  own 
journal,  ^^  that  the  warlike  measures  of  the  Mission  were  the 
consequences  of  following  Dr.  Livingstone's  advice.**  The 
question  whether  a  Bishop,  in  the  event  of  his  flock  being 
torn  from  his  bosom,  may  make  war  to  rescue  them,  requires 
serious  consideration.  It  seems  to  narrow  itself  into  whether 
a  Christian  man  may  lawfully  use  the  civU  power  or  the 
sword  at  all  in  defensive  war,  as  police,  or  otherwise.  We 
would  do  almost  anything  to  'avoid  a  collision  with  degraded 
natives ;  but  in  case  of  an  invasion— our  blood  boils  at  the 
very  thought  of  our  wives,  daughters,  or  sisters  being  touched 
— we,  as  men  with  human  feelings,  would  unhesitatiDgly 
fight  to  the  death,  with  all  the  fury  in  our  power. 
The  good  Bishop  was  as  intensely  averse  to  using  anna, 


Chap.  XX.  DEATH  OP  MBS.  LIVINGSTOKE.  417 

before  lie  met  the  slaye-himters,  as  any  man  in  England. 
In  the  course  he  pursued  he  may  have  made  a  mistake, 
but  it  is  a  mistake  which  very  few  Englishmen  on  meeting 
bands  of  helpless  captiyes,  or  members  of  his  feunily  in  bonds, 
would  have  failed  to  commit  likewise. 

During  unhealthy  April,  the  fever  was  more  severe  in 
Shupanga  and  Mazaro  than  usual.  We  had  several  cases 
on  board — ^they  were  quickly  cured,  but,  from  our  being  in 
the  Delta,  as  quickly  returned.  About  the  middle  of  the 
month  Mrs.  Livingstone  was  prostrated  by  this  diseetse ;  and 
it  was  accompanied  by  obstinate  vomiting.  Nothing  is  yet 
known  that  can  allay  this  distressing  symptom,  which  of 
course  renders  medicine  of  no  avail,  as  it  is  instantly  rejected. 
She  received,  whatever  medical  aid  could  be  rendered  from 
Dr.  Kirk,  but  became  unconscious,  and  her  eyes  were  closed 
in  the  sleep  of  death  as  the  sun  set  on  the  evening  of 
the  Christian  Sabbath,  the  27th  April,  1862.  A  coffin  was 
made  during  the  night,  a  grave  was  dug  next  day  under 
the  branches  of  the  great  Baobab-tree,  and  with  sym- 
pathizing hesorts  the  little  band  of  his  countrymen 
assisted  the  bereaved  husband  in  burying  his  dead.  At 
his  request,  the  Rev.  James  Stewart  read  the  burial-service ; 
and  the  seamen  kindly  volunteered  to  mount  guard  for 
some  nights  at  the  spot  where  her  body  rests  in  hope.  Those 
who  are  not  aware  how  this  brave,  good,  English  wife  made 
a  delightful  home  at  Kolobeng,  a  thousand  miles  inland  from 
the  Cape,  and  as  the  daughter  of  Moffat  and  a  Christian  lady 
exercised  most  beneficial  influence  over  the  rude  tribes  of  the 
interior,  may  wonder  that  she  should  have  braved  the 
dangers  and  toils  of  this  down-trodden  land.  She  knew 
them  all,  and,  in  the  disinterested  and  dutiful  attempt  to 
renew  her  labours,  was  called  to  her  rest  instead.  ^^  Fiat, 
Domine,  volutUas  tua  I " 

2  E 


418  STABT  FOR  TETTE.  CJhap.  XXI. 


CHAPTER  XXL 

Dr.  Kirk  and  Charlee  livingstone  proceed  to  Tette  —  Belchior's  wan— 
Goyemor  Almeida's  praiseworthy  interdict — C!onnivanoe  of  the  Governor- 
General  at  the  slave-trade  —  Masters  and  slaves — No  love  lost — Launch 
of  the  Lady  Nyassa  ~  Native  speculations  on  booyancy  of  iron  —  Free- 
dom of  discussion  on  certain  subjects —  Birds  at  play —  Onr  new  qnarter- 
master  —  Start  of  the  Lady  Nyassa  deferred — Portuguese  "prohibitive" 
permission  for  trading  —  Up  the  Rovuma  in  boats  —  Inhabitants — Mats — 
Tsetse  —  Zigzag  chamiel  —  A  queer  fish — Canoe  rivalry — The  Knglishmaii 
in  Africa  —  An  old  lady  opens  the  market — Men  with  pelele — Mabiha — 
Makoa — Slave  route  to  Eilwa — Life  on  a  sandbank  —Unprovoked  hostili^ 
—  Hives  and  honey — Coal  found — A  jolly  young  waterwoman — Our  pro- 
gress stopped  by  rocky  narrows  —  Sources  of  Bovuma  —  Crocodiles — Their 
eggs — Hunting  the  Senze — Back  again  to  the  Pioneer. 

On  the  5th  of  May  Dr.  Kirk  and  Charles  Liyingstone  started 
in  the  boat  for  Tette,  in  order  to  see  the  property  of  the 
Expedition  brought  down  in  canoes.  They  took  four  Mazaro 
canoe-men  to  manage  the  boat,  and  a  white  sailor  to  cook  for 
them;  but^  unfortunately,  he  caught  fever  the  very  day  after 
leaving  the  ship,  and  was  ill  most  of  the  trip ;  so  they  had  to 
cook  for  themselves,  and  to  take  care  of  him  besides.  The 
natives  behaved  remarkably  well,  and  were  very  cleanly  in 
their  habits,  bathing  every  day  after  sunset^  although  the 
weather  was  rather  chilly.  If  a  little  food  was  given  to  one, 
according  almost  to  imiversal  custom  he  shared  it  with  the 
others,  althou^  often  there  was  not  more  than  a  mouthful 
for  each.  They  preferred  punting  to  paddling,  and  choee,  in 
going  up  the  river,  the  parts  that  had  from  two  to  four 
feet  of  water,  instead  of  the  deep  channel  where  the  current 
is  strong.  They  kept  admirable  time  with  their  poles,  raising 
them,  bringing  them  down,  pushing,  and  giving  the  final 


Chap.  XXI.  CANOE-MEN'S  SONG.  419 

shoTe  all  at  the  same  inBtant  The  hekn  had  hardly  to 
be  touched  at  all,  so  well  did  they  keep  the  boat  on  her 
course.  Many  of  their  canoe  songs  are  very  fine ;  some  are 
peculiarly  plaintive^  like  the  one  which  appears  to  be  a 
lament  over  a  dying  Chief.  There  being  but  little  wind 
during  the  first  day,  the  sail  could  not  be  used ;  but  towards 
sunset  a  pleasant  breeze  sprang  up  and  sail  was  set. 
The  canoe-men  were  of  course  much  pleased  to  see  the  boat 
moving  on  without  their  exertions.  The  Makololo  of  our  first 
party  always  maintained  that  a  sailing-boat  was  the  perfection 
of  navigation — ^it  was  vastly  superior  to  a  steamer,  because  no 
wood  had  to  be  cut — ^and  you  had  merely  to  sit  still,  and  let 
the  wind  drive  you  along.  After  dark  the  wind  increased, 
the  boat  swept  swiftly  through  the  water;  the  men,  who 
are  of  an  excitable  temperament,  felt  the  influence,  and 
began  an  extemporary  and  very  energetic  song.  As  the 
breeze  freshened,  the  boat  dashed  through  the  waves ; 
then,  wfld  with  excitement  the  men  sprang  to  their  feet,  and 
sang  still  louder,  .gesticulating  with  might  and  main.  Sud- 
denly the  career  of  song  ceased — ^the  singers  were  sprawling 
on  their  backs — ^the  boat  was  on  a  sandbank. 

On  an  island  opposite  Shiramba  the  party  found  a  large 
number  of  fugitive  Manganja,  who  had  fled  from  the  war  oh 
the  mainland.  A  man  banished  firom  Portugal,  called  Bel- 
diior,  who  had  married  a  sister  of  the  half-caste  Chief  below 
Tette,  and  had  settled  near  Lupata,  was  encamped  on  an 
island  in  Shigogo.  They  were  challenged  as  they  sailed  past 
it  after  dark.  The  fife  and  drums  called  to  arms.  "The 
English !  the  English ! "  our  men  answered,  and  no  molesta- 
tion ensued.  Chibisa,  he  told  them,  had  sent  an  insulting 
message  to  him,  so  he  attacked  him,  and,  with  seventy  men 
armed  with  muskets,  drove  him  from  his  principal  village 
near  the  Zambesi,  and  burned  it.     Even  private  persons 

2  E  2 


420  GOVERNOR  ALMEIDA.  Chap.  XXL 

imitate  military  manners,  and  make  what  they  call  war  and 
peace^  as  if  no  other  authority  existed*  At  a  subsequent 
period  this  adventurer  forced  Chibisa  to  flee  to  the  new 
Mission-station  opposite  Da'kanamoio  island,  and  threatened 
to  follow  him  thither.  To  prevent  this  Dr,  Livingstone  ap- 
plied to  the  Governor  of  Tette,  Antonio  Tavares  d' Almeida, 
and  we  have  much  pleasure  in  stating  that  his  Excellency 
had  already  laid  an  injunction  on  Belchior,  not  to  proceed 
with  his  intended  foray.  This  very  creditable  order  had 
preceded  the  application. 

Dr.  Kirk  and  Charles  Livingstone  arrived  at  Tette  on  the 
17th,  and  found  its  wonted  dull  monotony  agreeably  broken 
by  the  marriage  of  the  Governor's  daughter  to  one  of  the 
oflScers.  The  slaves  were  celebrating  the  joyfiil  event  in 
the  usual  way,  by  drinking,  drumming,  dancing,  singing,  and 
firing  oflf  muskets.  Our  companions  were  hospitably  received 
by  the  Governor,  which  was  more  than  they  had  reason  to 
expect,  after  having  so  recently  freed  his  slave-gangs  in  the 
Manganja  country.  His  Excellency  alludpd  to  the  subject 
one  evening,  remarking  to  Dr.  Kirk  that  he  had  received 
from  his  brother,  the  Governor-General,  a  despatch,  saying 
that  as  the  slave-trade  was  legal  under  Portuguese  law, 
if  any  slave-party,  out  of  the  Portuguese  territory,  was  at- 
tacked, they  were  to  resist  force  by  force;  in  plain  words, 
they  were  to  fight  the  next  time  we  attempted  to  rescue  the 
kidnapped  Manganja.  This  is  mentioned  not  that  it  is  in 
any  way  remarkable  for  a  representative  of  the  Portuguese 
Crown  to  connive  at  slaving,  but  because  the  Govemor-Greneral 
Almeida,  by  speaking  English  and  professing  to  haye  an 
intense  desire  to  suppress  the  slave-trade,  gained  a  character 
for  uprightness  among  the  officers  of  H.M.  cruisers,  which 
none  of  his  countrymen  would  for  a  moment  endorse.  On 
finding  afterwards  that  his  less  powerful  brother  at  Tette 


Chap.  XXI.      OFFICIAL  CONNIVANCE  AT  SLAVERY.  421 

had  nnwittmgly  revealed  to  us  the  real  sentiments  of  the 
big  brother  at  Mosambique,  his  Excellency  could  not  conceal 
a  little,  perhaps  excusable,  chagrin,  though  he  must  have 
known,  that,  living  behind  the  scenes,  we  had  never  been 
misled  by  his  English  palavers,  and  that  we  should  have 
rejoiced,  had  it  been  possible  to  have  held  him  in  higher 
esteem.  Some  of  the  slaves,  captured  by  his  brother's  agents, 
are  sent  inland  for  ivory,  and  others  kept  on  farms,  whence 
he  and  every  one  else  know  they  will  be  shipped  by  means 
of  large  canoes  whenever  an  opportunity  occurs.  This  inland 
filave-trade  teeda  the  foreign  one ;  and,  if  Portuguese  legisla- 
tion has  any  meaning,  the  whole  thing  is  forbidden.  If,  as  the 
laws  profess,  they  wish  to  get  rid  of  slavery,  no  more  slaves 
can  be  made,  unless  the  laws  be  only  enacted  to  please  the 
English,  and  gratify  the  self-esteem  of  the  legislators. 

The  Portuguese  Government  is  really  famous  for 
passing  good  laws  in  Lisbon,  and  no  less  for  allowing 
those  respecting  slavery  to  remain  a  dead  letter.  It  has 
been  decreed  that  slavery  is  to  be  abolished  in  this  province 
in  1878,  and  the  Government  slaves  to  be  free  in  the  year 
1864.  An  officer  told  us  that  they  were  working  the  Govern- 
ment slaves  tremendously,  making  streets  and  tiles,  in  order 

« 

to  get  all  the  work  they  could  out  of  them  before  they 
were  set  free. 

Tette  is  very  much  improved  since  the  present  Governor 
came  into  office.  Two  good  roads  or  streets  have  been  made, 
which  is  something  new  for  this  country.  The  Governor  him- 
self is  nearly  walked  oflf  his  feet  looking  after  them.  There  are 
some  hundreds  of  black  soldiers  in  the  town,  who  are  very- 
much  better  clothed,  than  a  tithe  of  the  number  used  to  be  in 
former  years.  We  were  told,  on  what  seemed  good  authority, 
that  Tette  now  costs  the  Home  Government  3000t  a  year, 
and  yields  an  annual  revenue  of  300Z.    The  ivory-trade  has 


422  MEN  FLOGGED.  Chap.  XXL 

declined  very  materially,  from  the  elephants  being  nearly  all 
killed,  or  driven  oflf  from  the  part  of  the  country  formerly 
hunted 

The  canoes  hired  at  Mazaro  for  the  return  voyage  were  at 
Tette  when  we  arrived.     They  had  brought  up  stor^  for  the 
Portuguese  Gt)vemment,  and  had  been  accompanied  by  an 
officer  who  had  a  number  of  the  men  flogged,  though  th^ 
were  &eemen,  because  he  said  they  were  lazy,   and  lost 
time  in  coming  up.    The  backs  of  the  poor  fellows  were  badly 
cut.     Public  law  exists  in  theory ;  in  practice  punishment  is 
often  inflicted  at  the  caprice  of  individuals.     On  one  occa- 
sion we  sent  a  couple  of  the  Shupanga  thieves,  caught  with 
the  booty  on  them,  to  the  nearest  official;  we  received  a 
note  next  day  asking  what  punishment  was  to  be  inflicted; 
we  preferred  letting  the  criminals  go  free  to  giving  a  sen- 
tence.    Between  men  of  equal  standing,  a  threat  is  often 
made  of  using  the  musket,  by  the  name  of  the  ^^minist^ 
of  justice."      The  canoe-men    receive  their  pay  and  food 
for  the  trip  before  starting.    When  the  canoes  are  heavily 
laden,  and  the  water  low,  they  often  eat  up  all  their  food 
before  they  reach  Tette,  and  have  none  left  for  the  return 
passage,  unless  they  purchase  more  with  their  wages.     This 
was  the  case  with  our  men.     Food  was  cheap,  and,  wishing 
to  make  them  strong  for  their  work,  we  gave  them  con- 
siderably more    than   they  were    accustomed    to    receive, 
with  a  pig  and  a  goat  besides,  and  they  worked  remarkably 
welL     Starting,  of  their  own  accord,  at  the  first  dawn  of  day, 
and  keeping  on  till  dusk,  they  resolutely  kept  up  with  the 
boat,  and  reached  -Shupanga  in  four  days  and  three-quarters. 
The  merchants  complain  much  of  the  dishonesty  of  the  canoe- 
men,  and  sometimes  they  actually  do  make  off  with  a  whole 
cargo  of  cloth,  and  no  punishment  can  reach  them.     One  thing 
is  certain,  there  is  no  love  lost  between  these  parties. 


Chap.  XXL  '    ANNOYED  BY  THIEVES.  423 

We  now  proceeded  with  preparations  for  the  launch  of  the 
Lady  Nyassa.  Ground  was  levelled  on  the  bank  at  Shupanga, 
for  the  purpose  of  arranging  the  compartments  in  order :  she 
was  placed  on  palm-trees  which  were  brought  firom  a  place 
lower  down  the  river  for  ways,  and  the  engineer  and  his 
assistants  were  soon  busily  engaged ;  about  a  fortnight  after 
they  were  all  brought  from  Eongone,  the  sections  were 
screwed  together.  The  blacks  are  more  addicted  to  stealing 
where  slavery  exists  than  elsewhere.  We  were  annoyed  by 
thieves  who  carried  oflf  the  iron  screw-bolts,  but  were  gratified 
to  find  that  strychnine  saved  us  from  the  man-thief  as  well 
as  the  hyena-thief.  A  hyena  was  killed  by  it,  and  after  the 
natives  saw  the  dead  animal  and  knew  how  we  had  de« 
stroyed  it,  they  concluded  that  it  was  not  safe  to  steal  &om 
men  who  possessed  a  medicine  so  powerAiL  The  half-caste, 
who  kept  Shupanga-house,  said  he  wished  to  have  some  to 
give  to  the  Zulus,  of  whom  he  was  mortally  afraid,  and  to 
whom  he  had  to  pay  an  unwilling  tribute. 

The  Pioneer  made  several  trips  to  the  Kongone,  and  re- 
turned with  the  last  load  on  the  12th  of  June.  On  the  23rd 
the  Lady  Nyassa  was  safely  launched,  the  work  of  putting  her 
together  having  been  interrupted  by  fever  and  dysentery,  and 
many  other  causes  which  it  would  only  weary  the  reader  to 
narrate  in  detail.  Natives  from  all  parts  of  the  country  came 
to  see  the  launch,  most  of  them  quite  certain  that,  being 
made  of  iron  she  must  go  to  the  bottom  as  soon  as  she 
entered  the  water.  Earnest  discussions  had  taken  place 
among  them  with  regard  to  the  propriety  of  using  iron  for 
ship-building.  The  majority  a£Srmed  that  it  would  never 
answer.  They  said,  "  K  we  put  a  hoe  into  the  water,  or 
the  smallest  bit  of  iron,  it  sinks  immediately.  How  then 
can  such  a  mass  of  iron  float  ?  it  must  go  to  the  bottom." 
The  minority  answered  that  this  might  be  true  with  them^ 


424  GENESIS  OP  THE  TSETSE.  Chap.  XXL 

but  white  men  had  medicine  for  everything.  *'  They  could 
even  make  a  woman,  all  except  the  Bpeaking ;  look  at  that 
one  on  the  figure-head  of  the  vesseL"  The  unbelievers  were 
astonished,  and  could  hardly  believe  their  eyes,  when  they 
saw  the  ship  float  lightly  and  gracefully  on  the  river,  instead 
of  going  to  the  bottom,  as  they  so  confidently  predicted. 
**  Truly,"  they  said,  "  these  men  have  powerful  medicine.'* 

Our  distinguished  countryman,  Professor  Owen,  recom- 
mended our  attention  to  be  directed  to  the  genesis  of  the 
tsetse,  in  order  to  discover  a  means  for  the  extirpation  of 
this  pest  We  frequently  inquired  of  the  different  tribes  if 
they  could  help  us  in  our  inquiries ;  and  one  of  the  Makddo 
remembered  that  this  very  question  was  once  under  public  dis* 
cussion  at  Linyanti,  and  as  usual  a  bet  was  laid  that  no  ooe 
could  telL  After  a  number  of  days  had  elapsed,  an  old  man 
claimed  the  prize,  asserting  that  the  tsetse  laid  its  eggs,  whidi 
were  of  a  red  colour,  on  the  leaves  of  the  mopane-tree.  These 
were  probably  only  the  eggs  of  an  insect  described  in  the 
*  Missionary  Travels'  as  depositing  over  its  eggs  a  sweet  gum, 
which  is  collected  and  eaten.  Some  denied  that  he  had  seen 
them ;  others  affirmed  that  the  red  ^gs  were  laid  on  the 
twigs  of  trees,  and  not  on  the  leaves ;  and  others  insisted  that 
the  eggs  were  placed  in  the  droppings  of  buffaloes,  and  these 
last  were  probably  in  the  right.  The  destruction  of  all  game 
by  the  advance  of  civilization  is  the  only  chance  of  getting 
rid  of  the  tsetse. 

We  remember  to  have  heard  a  furious  discussion  among 
the  natives  on  the  question  whether  the  two  toes  of  the 
ostrich  represent  the  thumb  and  forefinger  in  man,  or  the 
little  and  ring  fingers.  On  these  occasions  it  is  amusmg  to 
observe  the  freedom  and  earnestness  with  which  men  of  the 
lowest  gradoribassault  the  opinions  of  their  betters.  It  is  not 
pften  that  they  can  bring  themselves  into  importance,  and 


Chap.  XXI.  BIRDS  AND  I'HEIR  SPORTS,  425 

they  make  the  most  of  an  opportunity,  **We  are  little 
iniants ;  we  are  still  clinging  to  the  bosoms  of  our  mothers ; 
we  cannot  walk  alone ;  we  know  nothing  at  all ;  but  on  this 
little  subject  we  know  that  the  elder  gentlemen  talk  like  all 
those  who  speak  about  that  of  which  they  know  nothing.  We 
never  heard  such  nonsense/'  and  so  forth ;  or  two  men  of  the 
same  age  may  be  the  disputants.  He  who  is  most  glib  of 
tongue  covers  his  opponent  with  confusion;  that,  however, 
does  not  end  the  argument.  Why  should  it  ?  The  sensation 
of  choking  in  his  throaty  the  pressure  of  blood  on  his  hearty 
make  the  vanquished,  when  unable  to  argue  stiU,  gasp  out 
*^  Can  you  outrun  me  then ?"  and  off  they  starts  run  a  mile, 
bring  a  branch  of  a  tree  at  the  end  of  the  usual  race^^ourse, 
and,  the  mental  and  bodily  excitement  by  this  means  equal'* 
ized,  they  settle  down  in  peace.  If  our  editors,  after  allowing 
the  paper  war  to  rage  till  both  the  **  esteemed  correspond- 
ents "  are  ready  to  go  into  fits  from  the  blood  being  lashed 
into  fury  round  the  heart  and  brain,  instead  of  the  usual 
atrocious  way  (!)  of  proposing  the  next  letters  to  be  paid  for 
as  advertisements,  would  only  advise  that  they  should  '^  run 
a  race,"  &x  fewer  cases  of  heart  disease  and  apoplexy  would 
be  traceable  to  the  ^  sanctum  "  door. 

Birds  are  numerous  on  the  Shupanga  estate.  Some  kinds 
remain  all  the  year  round,  while  many  others  are  there  only 
for  a  few  months.  Flocks  of  green  pigeons  come  in  April 
to  feed  on  the  young  fruit  of  the  wild  fig-trees,  \7hich  is 
also  eaten  by  a  large  species  of  bat  in  the  evenings.  The 
pretty  little  black  weaver,  with  yellow  shoulders,  appears  to 
enjoy  life  intensely  after  assuming  his  wooing  dress.  A 
hearty  breakfast  is  eaten  in  the  morning,  and  then  come 
the  hours  for  making  merry.  A  select  party  of  three  or 
four  perch  on  the  bushes  which  skirt  a  small  grassy  plain, 
and  cheer  themselves  with  the  music  of  their  own  quiet 


426  AN  OLD  QUARTEEMASTER.  Chap.  XXL 

and  self-complacent  song.  A  playful  performance  on  the 
wing  succeeds.  Expanding  his  soft  yelvefrlike  plumage, 
one  glides  with  quivering  pinions  to  the  centre  of  the  open 
space,  singing  as  he  flies,  then  turns  with  a  rapid  whining  sound 
from  his  wings — somewhat  like  a  child's  rattle — and  returns 
to  his  place  again.  One  by  one  the  others  perform  the  sune 
feat,  and  continue  the  sport  for  hours,  striving  which  can 
produce  the  loudest  brattle  while  turning.  These  games  are 
only  played  during  the  season  of  courting  and  of  the  gay 
feathers,  the  merriment  seems  never  to  be  thought  of  while 
the  bird  wears  his  winter  suit  of  sober  brown. 

We  received  two  mules  from  the  Cape  to  aid  us  in  trans- 
porting the  pieces  of  the  Lady  Nyassa  past  the  cataracts 
and  landed  them  at  Shupanga,  but  they  soon  perished.  A 
Portuguese  gentleman  kindly  informed  us,  afUr  both  the 
mules  were  dead,  that  he  knew  they  would  die ;  for  the  land 
there  had  been  often  tried,  and  nothing  would  live  on  it— 
not  even  a  pig.  He  said  he  had  not  told  us  so  bef(»e, 
because  he  did  not  like  to  appear  o£Scious ! 

We  obtained  from  the  Gorgon  an  assistant  in  the  shape  (tf 
an  old  quartermaster;  an  excellent  sailor,  and  exceedingly 
useful  man  when  sober,  but  uncommonly  apt  to  get  drunk, 
when  he  had  the  chance.  He  would  have  done  well,  had 
we  been  able,  as  we  intended,  to  proceed  up  the  river 
at  once ;  for  then  he  must  soon  have  been  a  total  abstainer; 
but  so  •  long  as  we  were  near  the  Portuguese  he  was 
useless,  and  the  power  which  impelled  him  must  have 
been  terribly  strong.  He  knew  not  a  word  of  the  language, 
and  the  natives  were  equally  ignorant  of  English;  yet 
he  succeeded  in  getting  a  native  to  go  seven  miles  for  some 
gin,  and  smuggle  it,  mixed  with  native  beer,  into  the  ship. 
When  sober  he  was  quiet,  respectfiil,  obliging,  quick  to  see  what 
should  be  done,  constantly  at  work,  and  taking,  pc^eularly 


Chap.  XXI.  SAIL  FOR  JOHANNA.  427 

good  care  of  everything.  We  felt  sorry  for  the  poor  fellow, 
bnt^  as  we  could  not  get  up  the  river,  we  had  to  put  him  on 
board  the  first  man-of-war  we  were  able.  Those  who  have 
never  acquired  the  intense  craving  for  stimulants  that  these 
men  feel,  can  scarcely  realize  the  force  of  the  temptation 
they  have  to  resist  In  the  words  of  the  Scotch  toper — "  We 
know  about  the  drinking,  but  nothing  of  the  drouth." 

By  the  time  everything  had  been  placed  on  board  the 
Lady  Nyassa,  the  waters  of  the  Zambesi  and  the  Shire  had 
fallen  so  low  that  it  was  useless  to  attempt  taking  her  up 
to  the  cataracts  before  the  rains  in  December.  Draught 
oxen  and  provisions  also  were  required,  and  could  not  be 
obtained  nearer  than  the  Island  of  Johanna.  The  Portuguese, 
without  refusing  positively  to  let  trade  enter  the  Zambesi, 
threw  impediments  in  the  way;  they  only  wanted  a  small 
duty !  They  were  about  to  establish  a  river  police,  and  re- 
arrange the  Crown  lands,  which  have  long  since  become 
Zulu  lands ;  meanwhile  they  were  making  the  Zambesi,  by 
slaving,  of  no  value  to  any  one. 

The  Rovuma,  which  was  reported  to  come  from  Lake  Nyassa, 
being  out  of  their  claims  and  a  free  river,  we  determined  to 
explore  it  in  our  boats  immediately  on  our  return  from 
Johanna,  for  which  place  after  some  delay  at  the  Kongone, 
in  repairing  engines,  paddle-wheel,  and  rudder,  we  sailed 
on  the  6th  of  August.  A  store  of  naval  provisions  had  been 
formed  on  a  hulk  in  Fomone  Bay  of  that  island  for  the 
supply  of  the  cruisers,  and  was  in  charge  of  Mr.  Sunley,  the 
Consul,  from  whom  we  always  received  the  kindest  attentions 
and  assistance.  He  now  obliged  us  by  parting  with  six  oxen, 
trained  for  his  own  use  in  sugar-making.  Though  sadly 
hampered  in  his  undertaking  by  being  obliged  to  employ  slave 
labour,  he  has  by  indomitable  energy  overcome  obstacles  under 
which  most  persons  would  have  sunk.    He  has  done  all  that 


428  EXPLORE  THE  R07XJMA.  Chap.  XXL 

under  the  circumstances  could  be  done  to  infuse  a  desire 
for  freedom,  by  paying  regular  wages ;  and  has  established 
a  large  factory,  and  brought  300  acres  of  rich  soil  under 
cultivation  with  sugar-cane.    We  trust  he  will  realize  the 
fortune,  which  he  so  well  deserves  to  earn.     Had  Mr. 
8unley  performed   the   same  experiment  on  the  mainland, 
where  people  would  have  flocked  to  him  for  the  wages  he 
now  gives,  he  would  certainly  have  inaugurated  a  new  era 
on  the  East  Coast  of  Africa.    On  a  small  island  wh^e  the 
slaveholders  have  complete   power   over   the  slaves,  and 
where  there  is  no  tree  soil  such  as  is  everywhere  met  with 
in  Africa,  the  experiment  ought  not  to  be  repeated.  Were 
Mr.  Sunley  commencing  again,  it  should  neither  be  in  Zan- 
zibar nor  Johanna,  but  on  African  soil,  where,  if  eyen  a  dave 
is  ill-treated,  he  can  easily  by  flight  become  fr'ee.     On  an 
island  under  native  rule  a  joint  manufacture  by  Arabs  and 
Englishmen  might  only  mean  that  the  latter  were  to  escape 
the  odium  of  flogging  the  slaves. 

On  leaving  Johanna  and  our  oxen  for  a  time,  H.M.S. 
Orestes  towed  us  thence  to  the  mouth  of  the  Bovama  at  the 
beginning  of  September.  Captain  Gktrdner  her  commander, 
and  several  of  his  officers,  accompanied  us  up  the  river 
for  two  days  in  the  gig  and  cutter.  The  water  was  unusoaDy 
low,  and  it  was  rather  dull  work  for  a  few  hours  in  the 
morning;  but  the  scene  became  livelier  and  more  animated 
when  the  breeze  began  to  blow.  Our  four  boats  then  swept 
on  under  full  sail,  the  men  on  the  look-out  in  the  gig  and 
cutter  calling,  "Port,  sir!"  "Starboard,  sir  I"  "As  you  go, 
sir  r'  while  the  black  men  in  the  bows  of  the  others  shouted 
the  practical  equivalents,  "  Pagombe  !  Pagombe  1 "  "  Enda 
quetel"  "Berane!  Beranel"  Presently  the  leading-boat 
touches  on  a  sandbank;  down  oomes  the  fluttering  sail; 
the  men  jump  out  to  shove  her  oS,  and  the  other  boatSi 


Chap.  XXI.  THE  LAKELET  CHIDIA.  429 

shunning  the  obstruction,  shoot  on  ahead  to  be  brought  up 
each  in  its  turn  by  mistaking  a  sandbank  for  the  channel, 
which  had  often  but  a  very  little  depth  of  water. 

A  drowsy  herd  of  hippopotami  were  suddenly  startled  by  a 
score  of  rifle-shots,  and  stared  in  amazement  at  the  strange 
objects  which  had  invaded  their  peaceful  domains,  until  a  few 
more  bullets  compelled  them  to  seek  refuge  at  the  bottom  of 
the  deep  pool,  near  which  they  had  been  quietly  reposing* 
On  our 'return,  one  of  the  herd  retaliated.  He  followed  the 
boat,  came  up  under  it,  and  twice  tried  to  tear  the  bottom 
out  of  it ;  but  fortimately  it  was  too  flat  for  his  jaws  to  get 
a  good  gripe,  so  he  merely  damaged  one  of  the  planks  with 
his  tusks,  though  he  lifted  the  boat  right  up,  with  ten  men 
and  a  ton  of  ebony  in  it. 

We  slept,  one  of  the  two  nights  Captain  Gardner  was  with 
ns,  opposite  the  lakelet  Chidia,  which  is  connected  with  the 
river  in  flood  time,  and  is  nearly  surrounded  by  hills  some 
500  or  600  feet  high,  dotted  over  with  trees.  A  few  small 
groups  of  huts  stood  on  the  hill-sides,  with  gardens  off  which 
the  usual  native  produce  had  been  reaped.  The  people  did 
not  seem  much  alarmed  by  the  presence  of  the  large  party 
which  had  drawn  up  on  the  sandbanks  below  their  dwellings. 
There  is  abundance  of  large  ebony  in  the  neighbourhood. 
The  pretty  little  antelope  {Cephalophtis  cceruleTis),  about  the 
size  of  a  hare,  seemed  to  abound,  as  many  of  their  skins  were 
offered  for  sale.  Neat  figured  date-leaf  mats  of  various 
colours  are  woven  here,  the  different  dyes  being  obtained 
from  the  barks  of  trees.  Cattle  could  not  live  on  the  banks 
of  the  Bovuma  on  account  of  the  tsetse,  which  are  found 
from  near  the  mouth,  up  as  far  as  we  could  take  the  boats. 
The  navigation  did  not  improve  as  we  ascended ;  snags, 
brought  down  by  the  floods,  were  common,  and  left  in  the 
channel  on  the  sudden  subsidence  of  the  water.    In  many 


430  VALLEY  OF  THE  ROVUMA,  Chap.  XXL 

places,  where  the  river  divided  into  two  or  three  channds, 
there  was  not  water  enough  in  any  of  them  for  a  boat  draw- 
ing three  feet^  so  we  had  to  drag  ours  over  the  shoals;  bat 
we  saw  the  river  at  its  very  lowest^  and  it  may  be  yeais 
before  it  is  so  dried  up  agam. 

The  valley  of  the  Bovumay  bounded  on  each  side  by  a 
range  of  highlands,  is  from  two  to  four  miles  in  width,  and 
comes  in  a  pretty  straight  course  from  the  W.8.W.;  bat 
the  channel  of  the  river  is  winding,  and  now  at  its  lowest 
zigzagged  so  perversely,  that  frequently  the  boats  had  to  pass 
over  three  miles  to  make  one  in  a  straight  line.  With  a 
frill  stream  it  must  of  course  be  much  easier  work.  Few 
natives  were  seen  during  the  first  week.  Their  villages  are 
concealed  in  the  thick  jungle  on  the  hill-ddes,  for  protection 
fit>m  marauding  slave-parties.  Not  much  of  interest  was  ob- 
served on  this  part  of  the  silent  and  shallow  river.  Though 
feeling  convinced  that  it  was  unfit  for  navigation,  except  for 
eight  months  of  the  year,  we  pushed  on,  resolved  to  see  i( 
frirther  inland,  the  accounts  we  had  received  frY>m  different 
naval  ofScers  of  its  great  capabilities  would  prove  correct; 
or  if,  by  communication  with  Lake  Nyassa,  even  the  upper 
part  could  be  turned  to  account.  Our  exploration  showed  as, 
that  the  greatest  precaution  is  required  in  those  who  visit 
new  countries. 

The  reports  we  received  from  gentlemen,  who  had  entered 
the  river  and  were  well  qualified  to  judge,  were  that  the 
Bovuma  was  infinitely  superior  to  the  Zambesi,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  any  bar  at  its  mouth,  in  its  greater  volume  of 
water,  and  in  the  beauty  of  the  adjacent  lands.  We  pro- 
bably came  at  a  different  season  from  that  in  which  they 
visited  it,  and  our  account  ought  to  be  taken  with  theirs  to 
arrive  at  the  truth.  It  might  be  available  as  a  highway 
for  commerce  during  three  quarters  of  each  year ;  but  casual 


Chap.  XXI.  DIFFERENCE  OF  LANGUAGE.  431 

yisitorSy  like  ourselves  and  others,  are  ill  able  to  decide.  The 
absence  of  bird  or  animal  life  was  remarkable.  Occasionally 
-we  saw  pairs  of  the  stately  jabiros,  or  adjutant-looking  mara- 
bouts, wading  among  the  shoals,  and  spurwinged  geese,  and 
other  water-fowl,  but  there  was  scarcely  a  crocodile  or  a 
hippopotamus  to  be  seen. 

At  the  end  of  the  first  week,  an  old  man  called  at  our 
camp,  and  said  he  would  send  a  present  from  his  village, 
which  was  up  among  the  hills.    He  appeared  next  morning 
with  a  number  of  his  people,  bringing  meal,  cassava-root, 
iCnd  yams.    The  language  differs  considerably  from  that  on 
the  Zambesi,  but  it  is  of  the  same  family.    The  people  are 
Makonde,  and  are  on  friendly  terms  with  the  Mabiha,  and 
the  Makoa,  who  live  south  of  the  Eovuma.    When  taking 
a  walk  up  the  slopes  of  the  north  bank,  we  found  a  great 
variety  of  trees  we  had  seen  nowhere  else.    Those  usually 
met  with  far  inland   seem    here   to   approach   the  coast. 
African  ebony,  generally  named  mpingu,  is  abundant  within 
eight  miles  of  the  sea;   it  attains  a  larger  size,  and  has 
more  of  the  interior  black  wood  than  usual.    A  good  timber 
tree  called  mosoko  is  also  found ;  and  we  saw  half-caste  Arabs 
ne€ur  the  coast  cutting  up  a  large  log  of  it  into  planks.    Be- 
fore reaching  the  top  of  the  rise  we  were  in  a  forest  of 
bamboos.    On  the  plateau  above,  large  patches  were  cleared 
and  cultivated.    A  man  invited  us  to  take  a  cup  of  beer ;  on 
our  complying  with  his  request,  the  fear  previously  shown  by 
the  bystanders  vanished.     Our  Mazaro  men  could  hardly 
understand  what  they  said.    Some  of  them  waded  in  the 
river  and  caught  a  curious  fish  in  holes  in  the  claybank. 
Its  ventral  fin  is  peculiar,  being  imusuaUy  large,  and  of  a 
circular  shape,  like  boys'  playthings  called  "  suckers."    We 
were  told  that  this  fish  is  found  also  in  the  Zambesi,  and  is 
called  Chirire.    Though  aU  its  fins  are  large,  it  is  asserted 


432  MOON-BLINDNESS.  Chap.  XXI. 

that  it  rarely  ventures  out  into  the  stream,  but  remains  near 
its  hole,  where  it  is  readily  caught  by  the  hand. 

The  Zambesi  men  thoroughly  understood  the  characteristic 
marks  of  deep  or  shallow  water,  and  showed  great  skill  in 
finding  out  the  proper  channel.  The  Molimo  is  the  steersnan 
at  the  helm,  the  Mokadamo  is  the  head  canoe-man,  and  he 
stands  erect  on  the  bows  with  a  long  pole  in  his  hands,  and 
directs  the  steersman  where  to  go,  aiding  the  rudder,  if 
necessary,  with  his  pole.  The  others  preferred  tb  stand  and 
punt  our  boat,  rather  than  row  with  our  long  oars,  being  able 
to  shove  her  ahead  faster  than  they  could  pull  her.  They  are 
accustomed  to  short  paddles.  Our  Mokadamo  was  affected 
with  moon-blindness,  and  could  not  see  at  all  at  night.  His 
comrades  then  led  him  about,  and  handed  him  his  food. 
They  thought  that  it  was  only  because  his  eyes  rested  all 
night,  that  he  could  see  the  channel  so  well  by  day.  At 
difficult  places  the  Mokadamo  sometimes,  however,  made 
mistakes,  and  ran  us  aground;  and  the  others,  evidently 
imbued  with  the  spirit  of  resistance  to  constituted  antho* 
rity,  and  led  by  JoSo  an  aspirant  for  the  office,  jeered  him 
for  his  stupidity.  "Was  he  asleep?  Why  did  he  allow 
the  boat  to  come  there?  Could  he  not  see  the  channel 
was  somewhere  else?"  At  last  the  Mokadamo  threw  down 
the  pole  in  disgust,  and  told  JoSo  he  might  be  a  Mokadamo 
himself.  The  office  was  accepted  with  alacrity;  but  in  a 
few  minutes  he  too  ran  us  into  a  worse  difficulty  than  his 
predecessor  ever  did,  and  was  at  once  disrated  amidst  the 
derision  of  his  comrades. 

In  travelling  it  is  best  to  enjoy  the  little  simple  incidents 
of  this  kind,  which,  at  most,  exemplify  the  tendencies  woven 
into  the  being  of  the  whole  human  family.  It  is  a  pity  to 
hear  that  some  of  our  countrymen  rudely  interfere  in  what 
really  does  no  harm.    Blows  even  have  been  inflicted  under 


Chap.  XXL  ENGLISHMEN  IN  AFRICA.  433 

the  silly  assumption  that  the  negro  is  this^  that,  and  the 
other  thing,  and  not,  like  other  men,  a  curious  mixture 
of  good  and  evil,  wisdom  and  folly,  cleverness  and  stupidity. 
An  Englishman  possessed  of  a  gun,  which  had  the  ugly  trick 
of  going  off  of  itself,  came  up  the  2^mbe8i  in  a  canoe 
manned  by  natives.  He  scarcely  knew  another  word  of 
the  language  than  the  verb  *'to  kiUJ*  The  gun,  as  was 
its  wont,  accidentally  went  off  close  to  the  head  of  one  of 
the  party;  who,  before  going  to  sleep,  expressed  his  fears 
to  his  comrades  that  this  unlucky  gun  might  ''kill"  some 
of  them«  Our  hero  caught  the  word,  and  spent  the  whole 
night  revolver  in  hand,  ready  to  punish  the  treachery  which 
existed  only  in  his  own  excited  brain.  This  adventure  he 
afterwards  published  in  a  newspaper  as  a  terrible  situation, 

■ 

a  hairbreadth  escape  from  bloodthirsty  savages.  Another 
British  Lion,  having  to  travel  some  two  hundred  miles  in  a 
canoe,  and  being  imable  to  speak  a*  word  of  the  language, 
thought  it  clever  to  fire  off  all  the  barrels  of  his  revolver 
eveiy  time  his  canoe-men  proposed  to  land  during  the  live- 
long day*  The  torrid  sun  right  overhead  was  at  its  hottest. 
The  poor  fellows  made  signs  they  wished  to  purchase  some 
beer.  Oflf  went  the  revolver,  **  No,  no,  no,  paddle  you  must.'* 
This  madness,  as  described  to  us  by  himself,  was  evidently 
thought  clever.  Another,  whose  estimate  of  himself  and 
that  formed  of  him  by  a  tribe  he  visited  did  not  at  all 
coincide,  after  complaining  at  a  public  meeting  of  the  un- 
truthfulness of  a  previous  traveller  to  whom  that  same  tribe 
had  shown  distinguished  kindness  and  respect,  stated,  as  we 
learn  on  the  authority  of  a  clergyman  who  was  present,  that 
he  had  tied  up  one  of  his  people  before  reaching  the  tribe 
referred  to,  "and  given  him  a  sound  thrashing."  Let  us 
fancy  the  effect  on  an  English  village  if  a  black  man  came 
to  it,  and  a  white  servant  complained  that  he  had  been 

2  P 


434  ISLAND  OP  KICHOKOMANE.  jChap.  XXI, 

KialtFeated  by  him  on  the  way.  We  have  felt  heartily 
aahamed  sometimes  on  discovering  how  canselessly  we  have 
been  angry.  No  doubt  the  natives  are  at  times  as  perversely 
stupid  as  servants  at  home  can  be  when  they  like ;  but  our 
conduct  must  often  appear  to  the  native  mind  as  a  mixture 
of  silliness  and  insanity. 

On  the  16th  September,  we  arrived  at  the  inhabited  island 
of  Eichokonuine.  The  usual  way  of  approaching  an  unknown 
people  is  to  call  out  in  a  cheerful  tone  ''  Mak>nda  V*  Things  for 
sale,  or  do  you  want  to  sell  anything?  If  we  can  obtain  a  man 
from  the  last  village,  he  is  employed,  though  only  useful  in 
explaining  to  the  next  that  we  come  in  a  friendly  way.  The 
people  here  were  shy  of  us  at  firsts  and  could  not  be  induoed 
to  sell  any  food ;  until  a  woman,  more  adventurous  than  the 
rest,  sold  us  a  fowl.  This  opened  the  market,  and  crowds 
came  with  fowls  and  meal,  far  beyond  our  wants.  The 
women  are  as  ugly  as  those  on  Lake  Nyassa,  for  who  can 
be  handsome  wearing  the  pelele  or  upper-lip  ring  of  laige 
dimensions?  We  were  once  surprised  to  see  young  men 
wearing  the  pelele,  and  were  told  that  in  the  tribe  of  the 
Mabiha,  on  the  south  bank,  men  as  well  as  women  wore 
them. 

Along  the  left  bank,  above  Eichokomane,  is  an  exceed- 
ingly fertile  plain,  nearly  two  miles  broad,  and  studded 
with  a  number  of  deserted  villages.  The  inhabitants  were 
living  in  temporary  huts  on  low  naked  sandbanks ;  and  we 
found  this  to  be  the  case  as  feur  as  we  went.  They  leave 
most  of  their  property  and  food  behind,  because  they  are 
not  afraid  of  these  being  stolen,  but  only  fear  being  stolen 
themselves.  The  great  slave-route  from  Nyassa  to  Kilwa 
passes  to  N.E.  from  S.W.,  just  beyond  them;  and  it  is 
dangerous  to  remain  in  their  villages  at  this  time  of  year, 
when  the  kidnappers  are  abroad.      In  one  of  the  tempo- 


Chap.  XXI.  UNPROVOKED  HOSTILITY.  435 

raiy  yillages^  we  saw,  in  passing,  two  human  heads  lying 
on  the  ground.  We  slept  a  couple  of  miles  aboye  this 
village. 

Before  sunrise  next  morning,  a  large  party  armed  with 
bows  and  arrows  and  muskets  came  to  the  camp,  two  or 
three  of  them  having  a  fowl  each,  which  we  refused  to  pur- 
chase, having  bought  enough  the  day  before.    They  followed 
ns  all  the  morning,  and  after  breakfast  those  on  the  left 
bank  swam  across  and  joined  the  main  party  on  the  other 
side.    It  was  evidently  their  intention  to  attack  us  at  a 
chosen  spot,  where  we  had  to  pass  close  to  a  high  bank, 
but  their   plan  was   frustrated  by  a  stiff  breeze  sweeping 
the  boats  past,  before  the  majority  could  get  to  the  place. 
They  disappeared  then,  but  came  out  again  ahead  of  us,  on  a 
high  wooded  bank,  walking  rapidly  to  the  bend,  near  which 
we  were  obliged  to  sail.     An  arrow  was  shot  at  the  foremost 
boat ;  and  seeing  the  force  at  the  bend,  we  pushed  out  from 
the  side,  as  far  as  the  shoal  water  would  permit,  and  tried 
to  bring  them  to  a  parley,  by  declaring,  that  we  had  not  come 
to  fight,  but  to  see  the  river.     "  Why  did  you  fire  a  gun,  a 
little  while  ago?"  they  asked.    "  We  shot  a  large  puff-adder, 
to  prevent  it  from  killing  men ;  you  may  see  it  lying  dead  on 
the  beach."    With  great  courage,  our  Mokadamo  waded  to 
within  thirty  yards  of  the  bank,  and    spoke  with  much 
earnestness,  assuring  them  that  we  were  a  peaceable  party, 
and  had  not  come  for  war,  but  to  see  the  river.    We  were 
friends,  and  our  countrymen  bought  cotton  and  ivory,  and 
wished  to  come  and  trade  with  them.     All  wo  wanted  was  to 
go  up  quietly  to  look  at  the  river,  and  then  return  to  the  sea 
again.    While  he  was  talking  with  those  on  the  shore,  the 
old  rogue,  who  appeared  to  be  the  ringleader,  stole  up  the 
bank,  and  with  a  dozen  others,  waded  across  to  the  island,  near 
which  the  boats  lay,  and  came  down  behind  us.    Wild  with 

2  F  2 


436  DEMAND  OP  TOLL.  Chap.  XXI. 

excitement,  they  roshed  into  the  water,  and  danced  in  our 
rear,  with  drawn  bows,  taking  aim,  and  making  yarious 
savage  gesticulations.  Their  leader  urged  them  to  get  behind 
some  snags,  and  then  shoot  at  ns.  The  party  on  the  bank 
in  front  had  many  muskets — and  those  of  them,  who  had 
bows,  held  them  with  arrows  ready  set  in  the  bowstrings. 
They  had  a  mass  of  thick  bush  and  trees  behind  them,  into 
which  they  could  in  a  moment  dart,  after  discharging  thda* 
muskets  and  arrows,  and  be  completely  hidden  from  our 
sight;  a  circumstance  that  always  gives  people  who  use 
bows  and  arrows  the  greatest  confidence.  Notwithstand- 
ing these  demonstrations,  we  were  exceedingly  loadi  to 
come  to  blows.  We  spent  a  full  half-hour  exposed  at  any 
moment  to  be  struck  by  a  bullet  or  poisoned  arrow.  We  ex- 
plained that  we  were  better  armed  than  they  were,  and  had 
plenty  of  ammunition,  the  suspected  want  of  which  often 
inspires  them  with  courage,  but  that  we  did  not  wish  to  shed 
the  blood  of  the  children  of  the  same  Great  Father  with 
ourselves;  that  if  we  must  fight,  the  guilt  would  be  all 
theirs. 

This  being  a  common  mode  of  expostulation  among  them- 
selves, we  so  far  succeeded,  that  with  great  persuasion  the 
leader  and  others  laid  down  their  arms,  and  waded  over  from 
the  bank  to  the  boats  to  talk  the  matter  over.  *•  This  was 
their  river;  they  did  not  allow  white  men  to  use  it 
We  must  pay  toll  for  leave  to  pass.**  It  was  somewhat 
humiliating  to  do  so,  but  it  was  pay  or  fight;  and,  rather 
than  fight,  we  submitted  to  the  humiliation  of  paying 
for  their  friendship,  and  gave  theln  thirty  yards  of  clotL 
They  pledged  themselves  to  be  our  friends  ever  afterwards, 
and  said  thev  would  have  food  cooked  for  us  on  our  return. 
We  then  hoisted  sail,  and  proceeded,  glad  that  Ae  affair 
had  been  amicably  settled.    Those  on  shore  walked  up  Xq 


Chap.  XXI.  BLOODTHIRSTY  SLAVERa  437 

the  bend  above  to  look  at  the  boat,  as  we  supposed; 
but,  the  moment  she  was  abreast  of  them,  they  gave  us 
a  YoUey  of  musket-balls  and  poisoned  arrows,  without  a 
word  of  warning.  Fortunately  we  were  so  near,  that  all 
the  arrows  passed  clear  oyer  us,  but  four  musket-balls  went 
through  the  sail  just  above  our  heads.  All  our  assailants 
bolted  into  the  bushes  and  long  grass,  the  instant  after 
firing,  save  two,  one  o(  whom  was  about  to  discharge  a 
musket  and  the  other  an  arrow,  when  arrested  by  the 
fire  of  the  second  boat.  Not  one  of  them  showed  their 
faces  again,  till  we  were  a  thousand  yards  away.  A 
few  shots  were  then  fired  oyer  their  heads,  to  giye  them 
an  idea  of  the  range  of  our  rifles,  and  they  all  fled  into 
the  woods.  Those  on  the  sandbank  rushed  off  too, 
with  the  utmost  speed ;  but,  as  they  had  not  shot  at  us» 
we  did  not  molest  them,  and  they  went  off  safely  with 
their  cloth.  They  probably  expected  "to  kill  one  of  our 
number,  and  in  the  confusion  rob  the  boats.  It  is  only 
where  the  people  are  slavers,  that  the  natives  of  this  part 
of  Africa  are  bloodthirsty. 

These  people  have  a  bad  name  in  the  country  in  front, 
ey^i  among  their  own  tribe.  A  slave-trading  Arab  we  met 
above,  thinking  we  were  then  on  our  way  down  the  river, 
advised  us  not  to  land  at  the  villages,  but  to  stay  in  the 
boats,  as  the  inhabitants  were  treacherous,  and  attacked 
at  once,  without  any  warning  or  provocation.  Our  experi- 
ence of  their  conduct  fully  confirmed  the  truth  of  what 
he  said.  There  was  no  trade  on  the  river  where  they 
lived,  but  beyond  that  part  there  was  a  brisk  canoe- 
trade  in  rice  and  salt;  those  further  in  the  interior  culti- 
vating rice,  and  sending  it  down  the  river  to  be  exchanged 
for  salt,  which  is  extracted  from  the  earth  in  certain  places 
on  the    banks.      Our  assailants  hardly  anticipated   resist- 


438  COUNTRY  OF  CHONGA  MICHL  Chap.  XXL 

ance,  and  told  a  neighbourmg  Chief,  that  if  they  had 
known  who  we  were,  they  wotdd  not  have  attacked  English, 
who  can  "bite  hard.**  They  oflTered  no  molestations  on 
our  way  down,  though  we  were  an  hour  in  passing  their 
village.  Our  canoe-men  plucked  up  courage  on  finding 
that  we  had  come  off  unhurt.  One  of  them  named  Chiku, 
acknowledging  that  he  had  been  terribly  irightened,  said 
**  His  fear  was  not  the  kind  which  makes  a  man  jump  over- 
board and  run  away ;  but  that  which  brings  the  heart  up  to 
the  mouth,  and  renders  the  man  powerless,  and  no  more 
able  to  fight  than  a  woman." 

In  the  country  of  Chonga  Michi,  about  80  or  90  miles  up 
the  river,  we  found  decent  people,  though  of  the  same  tribe, 
who  treated  strangers  with  civility.  A  body  of  Makoa 
had  come  from  their  own  country  in  the  south,  and  settled 
here.  The  Makoa  are  known  by  a  cicatrice  in  the  foi^ead 
shaped  like  the  new  moon  with  the  horns  turned  downwi^ds. 
The  tribe  possesses  all  the  country  west  of  Mosambique ;  and 
they  will  not  allow  any  of  the  Portuguese  to  pass  into  their 
country  more  than  two  hours'  distance  from  the  fort  A 
hill  some  ten  or  twelve  miles  distant,  called  Pau,  has  been 
visited  during  the  present  generation  only  by  one  Portuguese 
and  one  English  ofiicer,  and  this  visit  was  accomplished  only 
by  the  influence  of  the  private  friendship  of  a  Chief  for  this 
Portuguese  gentleman.  Our  allies  have  occupied  the  Fort  of 
Mosambique  for  three  hundred  years,  but  in  this,  as  in  all 
other  cases,  have  no  power  further  than  they  can  see  from 
a  gun-carriage. 

The  Makoa  chief,  Matingula,  was  hospitable  and  com- 
municative, telling  us  all  he  knew  of  the  river  and  country 
beyond.  He  had  been  once  to  Iboe  and  once  at  Mosambique 
with  slaves.  Our  men  understood  his  language  easily.  A 
useless  musket  he  had  bought  at  one  of  the  above  places  was 


Chap.  XXI.  HIVES  AND  HONEY.  439 

offered  ns  for  a  litde  cloth«  Having  received  a  present  of  food 
from  him,  a  railway  rug  was  handed  to  him :  he  looked  at  it 
— ^had  never  seen  cloth  like  that  before— did  not  approve 
of  it,  and  would  rather  have  cotton  cloth.  ^  But  this  will 
keep  you  warm  at  night" — "  Oh  I  do  not  wish  to  be  kept 
warm  at  night" — ^We  gave  him  a  bit  of  cotton  cloth,  not 
one-third  the  Value  of  the  rug,  but  it  was  more  highly 
prized.  His  people  refused  to  sell  their  fowls  for  om 
splendid  prints  and  drab  cloths.  They  had  probably  been 
taken  in  with  gaudy-patterned  sham  prints  before.  They 
preferred  a  very  cheap,  plain,  blue  stuff  of  which  they 
had  experience.  A  great  quantity  of  excellent  honey  is 
collected  all  along  the  river,  by  bark  hives  being  placed 
for  the  bees  on  the  high  trees  on  both  banks.  Large  pota 
of  it,  very  good  and  clear,  were  offered  in  exchange  for 
H  very  little  cloth.  No  wax  was  brought  for  sale;  there 
being  no  market  for  this  commodity  it  is  probably  thrown 
awav  as  useless. 

At  Michi  we  lose  the  table-land  which,  up  to  this  point, 
bonnds  the  view  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  as  it  were,  with 
ranges  of  flat-topped  hills,  600  or  800  feet  high ;  and  to  this 
plateau  a  level  fertile  plain  succeeds,  on  which  stand 
detached  granite  hills.  That  portion  of  the  table-land  on 
the  right  bank  seems  to  bend  away  to  the  south,  still  pre- 
serving the  appearance  of  a  hill  range.  The  height  opposite 
extends  a  few  miles  further  west,  and  then  branches  off  in  a 
northerly  direction.  A  few  small  pieces  of  coal  were  picked 
up  on  the  sandbanks,  showing  that  this  useful  mineral 
exists  on  the  Rovuma,  or  on  some  of  its  tributaries:  the 
natives  know  that  it  will  bum.  At  the  lakelet  Chidia,  we 
noticed  the  same  sandstone  rock,  with  fossil  wood  on  it,  which 
we  have  on  the  Zambesi,  and  knew  to  be  a  sure  evidence 
of  coal  beneath.    We  mentioned  this  at  the  time  to  Captain 


440         .       A  SMART  YOUNG  WATERWOMAN.       Chap.  XXT. 

Grardnery  and  our  finding  coal  now  seen«3d  a  yerification 
of  what  we  then  said ;  the  coalfield  probably  extends  from 
the  Zambesi  to  the  Bovuma,  if  not  beyond  it  Some  of  the 
rocks  lower  down  have  the  permanent  water-line  three  feet 
above  the  present  height  of  the  water. 

A  few  miles  west  of  the  Makoa  of  Matingula,  we  came 
again  among  the  Makonde,  but  now  of  good  repute.  War 
and  slavery  have  driven  them  to  seek  refuge  on  the  sand- 
banks. A  venerable-looking  old  man  hailed  us  as  we 
passed,  and  asked  us  if  we  were  going  by  without  speaking. 
We  landed,  and  he  laid  down  his  gun  and  came  to  us ;  he 
was  accompanied  by  his  brother,  who  shook  hands  with  eyery 
one  in  the  boat,  as  he  had  seen  people  do  at  Eilwa.  ^*  Then 
you  have  seen  white  men  before  ?"  we  said.  "  Yes,"  replied 
the  polite  African,  "  but  never  people  of  your  quality."  These 
men  were  very  black,  and  wore  but  little  clothing.  A  young 
woman,  dressed  in  the  highest  style  of  Makonde  fashion, 
punting  as  dexterously  as  a  man  could,  brought  a  canoe  full 
of  girls  to  see  us.  She  wore  an  ornamental  head-dress  of  red 
beads  tied  to  her  hair  on  one  side  of  her  head,  a  necklace  of 
fine  beetds  of  various  colours,  two  bright  figured  brass  brace- 
lets  on  her  left  arm,  and  scarcely  a  farthing's  worth  of  doth, 
though  it  was  at  its  cheapest. 

As  we  pushed  on  westwards,  we  found  that  the  riyer  makes 
a  little  southing,  and  some  reaches  were  deeper  than  any 
near  the  sea ;  but  when  we  had  ascended  about  140  miles  by 
the  river's  course  from  the  sea,  soft  tufa  rocks  began  to 
appear;  ten  miles  beyond,  the  river  became  more  narrow 
and  rocky,  and  when,  according  to  our  measurement,  we  had 
ascended  156  miles,  our  further  progress  was  arrested.  We 
were  rather  less  than  two  degrees  in  a  straight  line  from 
the  Coast.  The  incidents  worth  noticing  were  but  few: 
seven  canoes  with  loads  of  salt  and  rice  kept  company  with 


r 


Chap.  XXI.  STOPPED  BY  ROCKY  NARROWa  441 

us  for  some  days,  and  the  further  we  went  inland,  the  more 
civil  the  people  became. 

When  we  came  to  a  stand,  just  below  the  island  of  Nyama- 
tolo,  Long.  38°  36'  E.,  and  Lat.  11°  53',  the  river  was  narrow, 
and  full  of  rocks.  Near  the  island  there  is  a  rocky  rapid  with 
narrow  passages  fit  only  for  native  canoes ;  the  fall  is  small, 
and  the  'banks  quite  low ;  but  these  rocks  were  an  effectual 
barrier  to  all  further  progress  in  boats.  Previous  reports 
represented  the  navigable  part  of  this  river  as  extending  to 
the  distance  of  a  month's  sail  from  its  mouth;  we  found 
that,  at  the  ordinary  heights  of  the  water,  a  boat  might  reach 
the  obstructions  which  seem  peculiar  to  all  African  rivers  in 
six  or  eight  days.  The  Bovuma  is  remarkable  for  the  high 
lands  that  flank  it  for  some  eighty  miles  from  the  ocean. 
The  cataracts  of  other  rivers  occur  in  mountains,  those  of 
the  Bovuma  are  found  in  a  level  part,  with  hills  only  in  the 
distance.  Far  away  in  the  west  and  north  we  could  see  high 
blue  heights,  probably  of  igneous  origin  from  their  forms, 
rising  out  of  a  plain. 

The  distance  from  Ngomano,  a  spot  thirty  miles  further 
up,  to  the  Arab  crossing-places  of  Lake  Nyassa  Tsenga  or 
Kotakota  was  said  to  be  twelve  days.  The  way  we  had  dis- 
covered to  Lake  Nyassa  by  Murchison's  Cataracts  had  so 
much  less  land  carriage,  that  we  considered  it  best  to  take  our 
steamer  thither,  by  the  route  in  which  we  were  well  known, 
instead  of  working  where  we  were  strangers;  and  accordingly 
we  made  up  our  minds  to  return. 

The  natives  reported  a  worse  place  above  our  turning-point 
— ^the  passage  being  still  narrower  than  this.  An  Arab,  they 
said,  once  built  a  boat  above  the  rapids,  and  sent  it  down 
full  of  slaves ;  but  it  was  broken  to  pieces  in  these  upper 
narrows.  Many  still  maintained  that  the  Bovuma  came 
from  Nyassa,  and  that  it  is  very  narrow  as  it  issues  out  of 


442  SOURCES  OF  THE  ROVUMA.  Chap.  XXI. 

the  lake.  One  man  declared  that  he  had  seen  it  with  his 
own  eyes  as  it  left  the  lake^  and  seemed  displeased  at  being 
cross-questioned,  as  if  we  doubted  his  yeracity. 

More  satisfietctory  information,  as  it  appeared  to  us,  was 
obtained  fix)m  others.  Two  days,  or  thi?ty  miles,  beyond 
where  we  turned  back,  the  EoYuma  is  joined  by  the  Liende, 
which,  coming  from  the  south-west,  rises  in  the  mountains  on 
the  east  side  of  Nyassa.  The  great  slave  route  to  Eilwa  runs 
up  the  banks  of  this  river,  which  is  only  ankle-deep  at  the 
dry  season  of  the  year.  The  Bovuma  itself  comes  from  the 
W.N.  W.,  and  after  the  traveller  passes  the  confluence  of  the 
Liende  at  Ngomano  or  "  meeting-place,"  the  Chief  of  which 
part  is  named  Ndonde,  he  finds  the  river  narrow,  and  the 
people  A jawa. 

The  Nyamatolo  people  have  a  great  abundance  of  food, 
and  they  cultivate  the  land  extensively.  The  island  is  simply 
their  summer  residence;  their  permanent  villages  being  in  the 
woods.  While  hunting,  we  entered  some  of  these  villages, 
and  saw  that  large  quantities  of  grain  were  left  in  them,  and 
in  some  parts  of  the  forest  away  from  the  villages  we  found 
many  pots  of  oil-yielding  seeds  (sesamum),  besides  grain. 
The  sesamum  was  offered  to  us  both  for  sale  and  as  a 
present,  under  the  name  mafutdj  or  fat ;  and  small  quantities 
of  gum  copal  were  also  brought  to  us,  which  led  us  to  think 
that  these  articles  may  have  been  collected  by  the  Arabs. 
Tobacco,  formed  into  lumps,  was  abundant  and  cheap.  Cotton- 
bushes  were  seen,  but  no  one  was  observed  spinning  or 
weaving  cotton  for  anything  but  fishing-nets.  The  article  of 
most  value  was  a  climbing  dye-wood,  which  attains  the  thick- 
ness of  a  man's  leg,  and  which  Dr.  Eirk  has  found  experi- 
mentally to  be  of  considerable  value  as  a  fiEust  yellow  colour. 
Baobab-trees  on  the  Bovuma,  though  not  nearly  so  gigantic  in 
size  as  those  on  the  Zambesi,  bear  fruit  more  than  twice  as 


Chap.  XXL  CROCODILES— THEIB  EGGS.  443 

large.  The  great  white  blossoms  were  just  out,  and  much 
of  last  year's  fruit  was  still  hanging  on  the  branches. 

Crocodiles  in  the  Bovuma  haye  a  sorry  time  of  it. 
Never  before  were  reptiles  so  persecuted  and  snubbed. 
They  are  hunted  'with  spears,  and  spring  traps  are  set  for 
them«  If  one  of  them  enters  an  inviting  pool  after  fish, 
he  soon  finds  a  fence  thrown  round  it,  and  a  spring  trap 
set  in  the  only  path  out  of  the  enclosure.  Their  flesh  is 
eaten^  and  relished4  The  banks,  on  which  the  female  lays 
her  eggs  by  night,  are  carefully  searched  by  day,  and  all  the 
eggs  dug  out  and  devoured.  The  fish-hawk  makes  havoc 
among  the  few  young  ones  that  escape  their  other  enemies. 
Our  men  were  constantly  on  the  look-out  for  crocodiles' 
nests.  One  was  found  containing  thirty-five  newly-laid  eggs, 
and  they  declared  that  the  crocodile  would  lay  as  many  more 
the  second  night  in  another  place.  The  eggs  were  a  foot 
deep  in  the  sand  on  the  top  of  a  bank  ten  feet  high. 
The  animal  digs  a  hole  with  its  foot,  covers  the  eggs, 
and  leaves  them  till  the  river  rises  over  the  nest  in  about 
three  months  afterwards,  when  she  comes  back,  and  assists 
the  young  ones  out*  We  once  saw  opposite  Tette  young 
crocodiles  in  December,  swimming  beside  an  island  in  com- 
pany with  an  old  one.  The  yolk  of  the  egg  is  nearly  as 
white  as  the  real  white.  In  taste  they  resemble  hen's  eggs 
with  perhaps  a  smack  of  custard,  and  would  be  as  highly 
relished  by  whites  as  by  blacks,  were  it  not  for  their  unsa- 
voury origin  in  men-eaters. 

Hunting  the  Senze  {AulacoduB  Smndermanris),  an  animal 
the  size  of  a  large  cat,  but  in  shape  more  like  a  pig,  was  the 
chief  business  of  men  and  boys  as  we  passed  the  reedy  banks 
and  low  islands.  They  set  fire  to  a  mass  of  reeds,  and,  armed 
with  sticks,  spears,  bows  and  arrows,  stand  in  groups  guard- 
ing the  outlets  through  which  the  scared  Senze  may  run  from 


444  RETURN  TO  THE  PIONEER.  Chap.  XXT. 

the  approaching  flames.  Dark  dense  volumes  of  impene- 
trable smoke  now  roll  over  on  the  lee  side  of  the  islet,  and 
shroud  the  hunters.  At  times  vast  sheets  of  luiid  flames 
bursting  forth,  roaring,  crackling  and  exploding^  leap  wOdly 
far  above  the  tall  reeds.  Out  rush  the  terrified  animals,  and 
amid  the  smoke  are  seen  the  excited  hunters  dancing  about 
with  frantic  gesticulations,  and  hurling  stick,  spear,  and 
arrow  at  their  burned  out  victims.  Kites  hover  over  tiie 
smoke,  ready  to  pounce  on  the  mantis  and  locusts  as  they 
spring  from  the  fire.  Small  crows  and  hundreds  of  swallows 
are  on  eager  wing,  darting  into  the  smoke  and  out  again, 
seizing  fugitive  flies.  Scores  of  insects,  in  their  haste  to 
escape  from  the  fire,  jump  into  the  river,  and  the  active  fish 
enjoy  a  rare  feast. 

We  returned  to  the  Pioneer  on  the  9th  of  October,  having 
been  away  one  month.  The  ship's  company  had  used  distilled 
water,  a  condenser  having  been  sent  out  from  England ;  and 
there  had  not  been  a  single  case  of  sickness  on  board  since 
we  left,  though  there  were  so  many  cases  of  fever  the  few 
days  she  lay  in  the  same  spot  last  year.  Our  boat  party 
drank  the  water  of  the  river,  and  the  three  white  sailors,  who 
had  never  been  in  an  African  river  before,  had  some  slight 
attacks  of  fever. 


Chap.  XXII  QUILLIMANK  445 


•   CHAPTER   XXII. 

Qaillhnane  —  Colonel  Nofiez  —  Goverament  opposed  to  agricalture  —  Passport 
sjstem — The  Qnillimane  *' do-nothiDgs '*  —  Return  to  the  Zambesi — Bhu- 
panga,  December  19th,  1862  —  Onr  Mazaro  men  and  their  relations  — 
Famine  at  Tette — Dispersion  of  slayes — **  The  Portngnese  don't  fiEum  "  nor 
hnnt  —  January  10th,  the  Lady  Njassa  in  tow  —  Mariano's  atrocities — 
The  Bishop's  grave  —  Smell  and  hearing  in  animals — Angling  for  crocodile 

—  Frightftd  sight —  Crocodile  vermis  Makololo  —  Penetration  of  air  through- 
out systems  of  birds — Betum  of  Mr.  Thornton  —  Kilimanjaro  —  Mr.  Thorn- 
ton's generous  kindness  to  Mission  —  Journey  to  Tette  too  much  for  him  — 
His  death  and  grave — Wide-spread  desolation — Slave-trade  and  fiimine  — 
Marsh  culture — Lethargy  of  remnant  of  people — Skeletons  —  Abolition  of 
slave-tTEMle  a  9ine  qud  non  —  Influence  of  English  steamer  on  Lake  Kyassa 

—  Boad-making  —  Green  freshness  of  hills  —  No  provisions  to  be  bought 
— Ko  labour  —  Poor  food  and  deprened  spisits^  forvromien  of  disease — Dr. 
Kirk  and  C.  Livingstone  ordered  home  —  Dr.  Livingstone  ill  —  Dr.  Kirk 
remains  to  attend  him  —  19th  May,  Dr.  Kirk  and  C.  Livingstone  leave  — 
Bemonstrsnoe  to  Lisben  Government  —  Empty  results — Conduct  of  Portu- 
guese statesmen  towards  Africa  —  Dr.  Livingstone  and  Mr.  Rae  start  to 
look  after  our  old  boat  —  Employments  of  those  left  behind — Woman 
wounded  by  an  arrow  —  Tenacity  of  life  —  Dr.  Meller. 

We  put  to  sea  on  the  18th  of  October,  and,  again  touching 
at  Johanna,  obtained  a  crew  of  Johanna  men  and  some  oxen, 
and  sailed  for  the  Zambesi ;  but  our  fuel  failing  before  we 
reached  it,  and  the  wind  being  contrary,  we  ran  into  Quil- 
limane  for  wood. 

Qnillimane  must  hare  been  built  solely  for  the  sake  of 
carrying  on  the  slave-trade,  for  no  man  in  hia  senses  would 
ever  have  dreamed  of  placing  a  village  on  such  a  low,  muddy, 
fever-haunted,  and  mosquito-swarming  site,  had  it  not  been 
for  the  facilities  it  afforded  for  slaving.  The  bar  may  at 
springs  and  floods  be  easily  crossed  by  sailing-vessels,  but, 
being  far  from  the  land,  it  is  always  dangerous  for  boats. 
Slaves,  under  the  name  of  *'free  emigrants,"  have  gone  by 


446  COLONEL  NUNEZ.  Chap.  XXIL 

thousands  from  Quillimaue,  dunng  the  last  six  years,  to  the 
ports  a  little  to  the  sonth,  particnlarly  to  Massangaao.  Some 
excellent  brick-hoases  still  stand  in  the  place,  and  the  owners 


view  of  QuJUlmuc  mi  at  lie  Plouer, 

are  generous  and  hospitable :  among  them  our  good  friend. 
Colonel  Nunez.  His  disinterested  kindness  to  us  and  to  all 
our  countrymen  can  never  be  forgotten.  He  is  a  noble 
example  of  what  energy  and  uprightness  may  accomplish 
eyen  here.  He  came  out  as  a  cabin-boy,  and,  without  a 
single  friend  to  help  him,  he  has  persevered  in  an  honoa> 
able  course  until  he  is  the  richest  man  on  the  East  Coast 
When  Dr.  Liviugetone  came  down  the  Zambesi  in  185^ 
Colonel  Nunez  was  the  chief  of  the  only  four  honourable, 
trustworthy  men  in  the  country.  But  while  he  has 
risen,  a  whole  herd  has  sunk,  making  loud  lamentations, 
through  puffs  of  cigar-smoke,  over  negro  laziness;  they  might 
add,  their  own. 


Chap.  XXIL  RETURN  TO  THE  ZAMBESI.  447 

All  agricultural  enterprise  is  Tirtually  discouraged  by  the 
Quillimane  Goyemment  A  man  must  purchase  a  permit 
from  the  Govemor^  when  he  wishes  to  visit  his  country  farm ; 
and  this  tax,  in  a  country  where  labour  is  unpopular,  causes 
the  {axma  to  be  almost  entirely  left  in  the  hands  of  a  head 
aUye^  who  makes  returns  to  his  master  as  interest  or  honesty 
prompts  him.  A  passport  must  also  be  bought  whenever  a 
man  wishes  to  go  up  the  river  to  Mazaro,  Senna,  or  Tette,  or 
even  to  reside  for  a  month  at  Quillimane.  With  a  soil 
and  a  climate  well  suited  for  the  growth  of  the  cane,  abun- 
dance of  slave  labour,  and  water  communication  to  any 
market  in  the  world,  they  have  never  made  their  own 
sugar.  All  they  use  is  imported  from  Bombay.  "The 
people  of  Quillimane  have  no  enterprise,"  said  a  young 
European  Portuguese,  "they  do  nothing,  and  are  always 
wasting  their  time  in  suffering,  or  in  recovering  from  fever." 

We  entered  the  Zambesi  about  the  end  of  November  and 
found  it  unusually  low,  so  we  did  not  get  up  to  Shupanga 
till  the  19th  of  December.  The  friends  of  our  Mazaro  men, 
who  had  now  become  good  sailors  and  very  attentive  ser- 
vants, turned  out  and  gave  them  a  hetirty  welcome  bttck 
from  the  perils  of  the  sea:  they  had  begun  to  fear  that 
they  would  never  return.  We  hired  them  at  a  sixteen- 
yard  piece  of  cloth  a  month — about  ten  shillings'  worth,  the 
Portuguese  market-price  of  the  cloth  being  then  sevenpence 
halfpenny  a  yard, — and  paid  them  five  pieces  each,  for  four- 
and-a-half  months'  work.  A  merchant  at  the  same  time  paid 
other  Mazaro  men  three  pieces  for  seven  months,  and  they 
were  with  him  in  the  interior.  If  the  merchants  do  not 
prosper,  it  is  not  because  labour  is  dear,  but  because  it 
is  scarce,  and  because  they  are  so  eager  on  every  occasion 
to  sell  the  workmen  out  of  the  country.  Our  men  had 
also  received  quantities  of  good  clothes  from  the  sailors 


448  DROUGHT  AND  SCARCITY.  Chap.  XXH. 

of  the  Pioneer  and  of  the  Orestes^  and  were  now  re- 
garded by  their  neighbours  and  by  ihemselTes  as  men 
of  importance.  Never  before  had  they  possessed  so  much 
wealth :  they  believed  that  they  might  settle  in  life, 
being  now  of  sufficient  standing  to  warrant  their  entering 
the  married  state ;  and  a  wife  and  a  hut  were  among 
their  first  investments.  Sixteen  yards  were  paid  to  the 
wife's  parents,  and  a  hut  cost  four  yards.  We  should  have 
liked  to  have  kept  them  in  the  ship,  for  they  were  wdl- 
behaved  and  had  learned  a  great  deal  of  the  work  required. 
Though  they  would  not  themselves  go  again,  they  engaged 
others  for  us ;  and  brought  twice  as  many  as  we  could  take,  of 
their  brothers  and  cousins,  who  were  eager  to  join  ihe  ship 
and  go  with  us  up  the  Shire,  or  anywhere  else.  They  all 
agreed  to  take  half-pay  until  they  too  had  learned  to  work ; 
and  we  found  no  scarcity  of  labour,  though  all  that  could  be 
exported  is  now  out  of  the  country. 

There  had  been  a  drought  of  unusual  severity  during  the 
past  season  in  the  country  between  Lapata  and  Kebrabasa, 
and  it  had  extended  north-east  to  the  Manganja  highlands. 
All  the  Tette  slaves,  except  a  very  few  household  ones, 
had  been  driven  away  by  hunger,  and  were  now  far  off 
in  the  woods,  and  wherever  wild  fruity  or  the  prospect  of 
obtaining  anything  whatever  to  keep  the  breath  of  life  in 
them,  was  to  be  found.  Their  masters  were  said  never  to 
expect  to  see  them  again.  There  have  been  two  years  of 
great  hunger  at  Tette  since  we  have  been  in  the  country, 
and  a  famine  like  the  present  prevailed  in  1854,  when 
thousands  died  of  starvation.  If  men  like  the  Cape  farmers 
owned  this  country,  their  energy  and  enterprise  would  soon 
render  the  creps  independent  of  rain.  There  being  plenty  of 
slope  or  fall,  the  land  could  be  easily  irrigated  from  the 
Zambesi  and  its  tributary  streams.    A  Portuguese  colony  can 


Chap.  XXIL  THE  LADY  NYASSA  IN  TOW,  449 

never  prosper :  it  is  used  as  a  penal  settlement,  and  everything 
must  be  done  military  fashion.  ''  What  do  I  care  for  this 
country?'*  said  the  most  enterprising  of  the  Tette  merchants, 
*^  all  I  want  is  to  make  money  as  soon  as  possible,  and  then 
go  to  Bombay  and  enjoy  it"  All  business  at  Tette  was  now 
suspended.  Carriers  could  not  be  found  to  take  the  goods  into 
the  interior,  and  the  merchants  could  barely  obtain  food  for 
their  own  fiimilies.  At  Mazaro  more  rain  had  fallen,  and  a 
tolerable  crop  followed.  The  people  of  Shupanga  were 
collecting  and  drying  different  wild  fruits,  nearly  aU  of  which 
are  far  froni^  palatable  to  a  European  taste.  The  root  of  a 
small  creeper  called  "  bise  **  is  dug  up  and  eaten.  In  appear- 
ance it  is  not  unlike  the  small  white  sweet  potato,  and  has  a 
little  of  the  flavour  of  our  potato.  It  would  be  very  good,  if 
it  were  only  a  little  larger.  From  another  tuber,  called 
**  ulanga,"  very  good  starch  can  be  made.  A  few  miles  from 
Shupanga  there  is  an  abundance  of  large  game,  but  the 
people  here,  though  fond  enough  of  meat,  are  not  a  hunting 
race,  and  seldom  kill  any. 

The  Shire  having  risen,  we  steamed  off  on  the  10th  of 
January,  1863,  with  the  Lady  Nyassa  in  tow.  It  was 
not  long  before  we  came  upon  the  ravages  of  the  notorious 
Mariano.  The  survivors  of  a  small  hamlet,  at  the  foot  of 
Morambala,  were  in  a  state  of  starvation,  having  lost  their 
food  by  one  of  his  marauding  parties.  The  women  were  in 
the  fields  collecting  insects,  roots,  wild  fruits,  and  whatever 
could  be  eaten,  in  order  to  drag  on  their  lives,  if  possible, 
till  the  next  crop  should  be  ripe.  Two  canoes  passed  us, 
that  had  been  robbed  by  Mariano's  band  of  everything  they 
had  in  them ;  the  owners  were  gathering  palm-nuts  for  their 
subsistence.  They  wore  palm-leaf  aprons,  as  the  robbers  had 
stripped  them  of  their  clothing  and  ornaments.  Dead  bodies 
floated  past  us  daily,  and  in  the  mornings  the  paddles  had  to 

2  o 


450  MARIANO^  ATROCrriEa  Chap.  XXH^ 

be  cleared  of  corpses,  caught  by  the  floats  during  the  night* 
For  scores  of  miles  the  entire  population  of  the  valley  was 
swept  away  by  this  scourge  Mariano,  who  is  again,  as  he  was 
before,  the  great  Portuguese  slave-agent  It  made  the  heart 
ache  to  see  the  wide-spread  desolation;  the  river-banks, 
once  so  populous,  all  silent ;  the  villages  burned  down,  and 
an  oppressive  stillness  reigning  where  formerly  crowds  of 
w  eager  sellers  appeared  with  the  various  products  of  their 
industry.  Here  and  there  might  be  seen  on  the  bank  a  small 
dreary  deserted  shed,  where  had  sat,  day  after  day,  a  starving 
fisherman,  until  the  rising  waters  drove  the  fish  from  their 
wonted  haunts,  and  left  him  to  die.  Tingane  had  been 
defeated  ;  his  people  had  been  killed,  kidnapped,  and  forced 
to  flee  from  their  villages.  There  were  a  few  wretched  sur- 
vivors in  a  village  above  the  Ruo ;  but  the  majority  of  the 
population  was  dead.  The  sight  and  smell  of  dead  bodies 
was  everywhere.  Many  skeletons  lay  beside  the  path,  where 
in  their  weakness  they  had  fallen  and  expired.  Ghastly 
living  forms  of  boys  and  girls,  with  dull  dead  eyes,  were 
crouching  beside  some  of  the  huts,  A  few  more  miserable 
days  of  their  terrible  hunger,  and  they  would  be  with  tiae 
dead. 

Oppressed  with  the  shocking  scenes  around,  we  visited  the 
Bidiop's  grave;  and  though  it  matters  little  where  a  good 
Christian's  ashes  rest,  yet  it  was  with  sadness  that  we  thought 
over  the  hopes  which  had  clustered  around  him,  as  he  left  the 
classic  grounds  of  Cambridge,  all  now  buried  in  this  wild  plaee« 
How  it  would  have  torn  his  kindly  heart  to  witness  the  sights 
we  now  were  forced  to  see ! 

In  giving  vent  to  the  natural  feelings  of  regret,  that  a 
man  so  eminently  endowed  and  learned,  as  was  Bishop  Mae- 
ken^'e,  should  have  been  so  soon  cut  ofi^,  some  have  ex- 
pressed an  opinion  that  it  was  wrong  to  use  an  instrument  so 


Chap.  XXIT.  BISHOP  MACKENZIE.  451 

valuable  merely  to  convert  the  heathen.  If  the  attempt  is 
to  be  made  at  all,  it  is  "  penny  wise  and  pound  foolish"  to 
employ  any  but  the  very  best  men,  and  those  who  are 
specially  educated  for  the  work.  An  ordinary  clergyman, 
however  well  suited  for  a  parish,  will  not,  without  special 
training,  make  a  Missionary;  and  as  to  their  comparative 
usefulness,  it  is  like  that  of  the  man  who  builds  an  hospital,  as 
compared  with  that  of  the  surgeon  who  in  after  years  only 
administers  for  a  time  the  remedies  which  the  foimder  had 
provided  in  perpetuity.  Had  the  Bishop  succeeded  in  intro- 
ducing Christianity,  his  converts  might  have  been  few,  but 
they  would  have  formed  a  continuous  roll  for  all  time  to  come. 
The  Shire  fell  two  feet,  before  we  reached  the  shallow 
crossing  where  we  had  formerly  such  diflBculty,  and  we  had 
now  two  ships  to  take  up.  A  hippopotamus  was  shot  two 
miles  above  a  bank  on  which  the  ship  lay  a  fortnight:  it 
floated  in  three  hours.  As  the  boat  was  towing  it  down,  the 
crocodiles  were  attracted  by  the  dead  beast,  and  several  shots 
had  to  be  fired  to  keep  them  off.  The  bullet  had  not  entered 
the  brain  of  the  animal,  but  driven  a  splinter  of  bone  into  it. 
A  little  moisture  with  some  gas  issued  from  the  wound,  and 
this  was  all  that  could  tell  the  crocodiles  down  the  stream 
of  a  dead  hippopotamus ;  and  yet  they  came  up  from  miles 
below*  Their  sense  of  smeU  must  be  as  acute  as  their 
hearing ;  both  are  quite  extraordinary.  Dozens  fed  on  the 
meat  we  left.  Our  Krooman,  Jumbo,  used  to  assert,  that 
the  crocodile  never  eats  fresh  meat,  but  always  keeps  it  till 
it  is  high  and  tender — and  the  stronger  it  smells,  the  better 
he  likes  it.  There  seems  to  be  some  truth  in  this.  They 
can  swallow  but  small  pieces  at  a  time,  and  find  it  difficult 
to  tear  fresh  meat.  In  the  act  of  swallowing,  which  is  like 
that  of  a  dog,  the  head  is  raised  out  of  the  water.  We 
tried  to  catch  some,  and  one  was  soon  hooked ;  it  required  half- 

2  G  2 


452  FRIGHTFUL  SIGHT.  Chap.  XXH. 

a-dozen  hands  to  haul  him  up  the  river,  and  the  shark-hook 
straightened,  and  he  got  away.  A  large  iron  hook  was  next 
made,  but,  as  the  creatures  could  not  swallow  it,  their  jaws 
soon  pressed  it  straight  —  and  our  crocodile-fishing  was  a 
fiEiilure.  As  one  might  expect^ — ^from  the  power  eyen  of  a 
salmon — the  tug  of  a  crocodile  was  terribly  strong. 

The  corpse  of  a  boy  floated  past  the  ship;  a  monstrous 
crocodile  rushed  at  it  with  the  speed  of  a  greyhound, 
caught  it  and  shook  it,  as  a  terrier  dog  does  a  rat 
Others  dashed  at  the  prey,  each  with  his  powerful  tail 
causing  the  water  to  chum  and  froth,  as  he  furiously  tore 
off  a  piece.  In  a  few  seconds  it  was  aU  gone.  The  sight 
was  frightful  to  behold.  The  Shire  swarmed  with  croco- 
diles ;  we  counted  sixty-seven  <^  these  repulsive  reptiles  on 
a  single  bank,  but  they  are  not  as  fierce  as  they  are  in 
some  rivers.  "  Crocodiles"  says  Captain  Tuckey,  "  are  so 
plentiful  in  the  Congo,  near  the  rapids,  and  so  frequently  carry 
off  the  women,  who  at  daylight  go  down  to  the  rirer  for 
water,  that,  while  they  are  filling  their  calabashes,  one  of  the 
party  is  usually  employed  in  throwing  large  stones  into  the 
water  outside."  Here,  either  a  calabash  on  a  long  pole  is  nsed 
in  drawing  water,  or  a  fence  is  planted.  The  natives  eat 
the  crocodile,  but  to  us  the  idea  of  tasting  the  musky- 
scented,  fishy-looking  flesh  carried  the  idea  of  cannibalism. 
Humboldt  remarks,  that  in  South  America  the  aUigators  of 
some  riv^^  are  more  dangerous  than  in  others.  Alligators 
differ  from  crocodiles  in  the  fourth  or  canine  tooth  going 
into  a  hole  or  socket  in  the  upper  jaw,  while,  in  the  croco- 
dile it  fits  into  a  notch.  The  forefoot  c^  the  crocodile  has 
five  toes  not  webbed,  the  hindfoot  has  four  toes  which  are 
webbed;  in  the  alligator  the  web  is  altogether  wanting. 
They  are  so  much  alike  that  they  would  no  doubt  breed 
together. 


Chap.  XXIT,         MAKOLOLO  AND  CROCODILE.  453 

One  of  the  crocodiles  which  was  shot  had  a  piece  snapped 
off  the  end  of  his  tail,  another  had  lost  a  forefoot  in  fighting ;  we 
saw  actual  leeches  between  the  teeth,  such  as  are  mentioned  by 
Herodotus,  but  we  never  witnessed  the  plover  picking  them  out 
Their  greater  fierceness  in  one  part  of  the  country  than  ano- 
ther is  doubtless  owing  to  a  scarcity  of  fish ;  in  &ct.  Captain 
Thickey  says,  of  that  part  of  the  Congo,  mentioned  above, 
**  There  are  no  fish  here  but  catfish,**  and  we  found,  that  the 
lake  crocodiles,  living  in  clear  water,  and  with  plenty  of  fish, 
scarcely  ever  attacked  man.  The  Shire  teems  with  fish  of 
many  different  kinds.  The  only  time,  as  already  remarked, 
when  its  crocodiles  are  particularly  to  be  dreaded,  is  when 
the  river  is  in  flood.  Then  the  fish  are  driven  from  their 
usoal  haunts,  and  no  game  comes  down  to  the  river  to  driiik, 
water  being  abundant  in  pools  inland.  Hunger  now  impels 
the  crocodile  to  lie  in  wait  for  the  women  who  come  to  draw 
water,  and  on  the  Zambesi  numbers  are  carried  off  every  year. 
The  danger  is  not  so  great  at  other  seasons ;  though  it  is  never 
safe  to  bathe,  or  to  stoop  to  drink,  where  one  cannot  see  the 
bottom,  especially  in  the  evening.  One  of  the  Makololo  ran 
down  in  the  dusk  to  the  river ;  and,  as  he  was  busy  tossing  the 
water  to  his  mouth  with  his  hand,  in  the  manner  peculiar 
to  the  natives,  a  crocodile  rose  suddenly  from  the  bottom, 
and  caught  him  by  the  hand.  The  limb  of  a  tree  was  fortu- 
nately within  reach,  and  he  had  presence  of  mind  to  lay  hold 
of  it.  Both  tugged  and  pulled ;  the  crocodile  for  his  dinner, 
and  the  man  for  dear  life.  For  a  time,  it  appeared  doubtful 
whether  a  dinner  or  a  life  was  to  be  sacrificed ;  but  the  man 
held  on,  and  the  monster  let  the  hand  go,  leaving  the  deep 
marks  of  his  ugly  teeth  in  it. 

During  our  detention,  in  expectation  of  the  permanent  rise 
of  the  river  in  March,  Dr.  Eirk  and  Mr.  C.  Livingstone  col- 
lected numbers  of  the  wading-birds  of  the  marshes — and 


454         RETCRN  OF  MR.  THORNTON.    Chap.  XXH. 

made  pleasant  additions  to  our  salted  provisions,  in  geese, 
dacks,  and  hippopotamus  flesh.  One  of  the  comb  or  knob- 
nosed  geese,  on  being  strangled  in  order  to  have  its  ^in 
preserved  without  injury,  continued  to  breathe  audibly  by  the 
broken  humerus,  or  wing-bone,  and  other  means  had  to  be 
adopted  to  put  it  out  of  pain.  This  was  as  if  a  man  on 
the  gallows  were  to  continue  to  breathe  by  a  broken  arm- 
bone,  and  afforded  us  an  illustration  of  the  hdy  that  in  birds, 
the  vital  air  penetrates  every  part  of  the  interior  of  their 
bodies.  The  breath  passes  through  and  round  about  the 
lungs — ^bathes  the  surfaces  of  the  viscera,  and  enters  the 
cavities  of  the  bones ;  it  even  penetrates  into  some  spaces 
between  the  muscles  of  the  neck — ^and  thus  not  only  is  the 
most  perfect  oxygenation  of  the  blood  secured,  but,  the 
temperature  of  the  blood  being  very  high,  the  air  in  every 
part  is  rarefied,  and  the  great  lightness  and  vigour  provided 
for,  that  the  habits  of  birds  require.  Several  birds  were 
found  by  Dr.  Kirk,  to  have  marrow  in  the  tibise,  though  these 
bones  are  generally  described  as  hollow. 

During  the  period  of  our  detention  on  the  shallow  part  of 
the  river  in  March,  Mr.  Thornton  came  up  to  us  from  Shu- 
panga:  he  had,  as  before  narrated,  left  the  expedition  in 
1859,  and  joined  Baron  van  der  Decken,  in  the  journey  to 
Kilimanjaro,  when,  by  an  ascent  of  the  mountain  to  the  he^ht 
of  8000  feet,  it  was  first  proved  to  be  covered  with  perpetual 
snow,  and  the  previous  information  respecting  it,  given  by 
the  Church  of  England  Missionaries,  Erapf  and  Bebman,  con- 
firmed. It  is  now  well  known  that  the  Baron  subsequently 
ascended  the  Kilimanjaro  to  14,000  feet,  and  ascertained 
its  highest  peak  to  be  at  least  20,000  feet  above  the  sea. 
Mr.  Thornton  made  the  map  of  the  first  journey,  at  Shu- 
panga,  from  materials  collected  when  with  the  Baron; 
and  when  that  work  was  accomplished,  followed  us.    He  was 


Chap.  XXII.  HIS  DEATH  AND  GRAVE.  455 

then  directed  to  examine  geologically,  the  Cataract  district, 
bnt  not  to  expose  himself  to  contact  with  the  Ajawa  until  the 
feelings  of  that  tribe  should  be  ascertained 

The  members  of  Bishop  Mackenzie's  party  had,  on  the  loss 
of  their  head,  fled  from  Magomero  on  the  highlands,  down  to 
Chibisa's,  in  the  low-lying  Shire  Valley ;  and  Thornton,  finding 
them  suffering  from  want  of  animal  food,  kindly  volunteered 
to  go  across  thence  to  Tette,  and  bring  a  supply  of  goats 
and  sheep.  We  were  not  aware  of  this  step,  to  which  the 
generosity  of  his  nature  prompted  him,  till  two  days  after 
he  had  started.  In  addition  to  securing  supplies  for  the 
Universities'  Mission,  he  brought  some  for  the  Expedition,  and 
took  bearings,  by  which  he  hoped  to  connect  his  former  work 
at  Tette  with  the  mountains  in  the  Shire  district  The 
toil  of  this  journey  was  too  much  for  his  strength,  as  with 
the  addition  of  great  scarcity  of  water,  it  had  been  for 
that  of  Dr.  Kirk  and  Kae,  and  he  returned  in  a  sadly 
haggard  and  exhausted  condition ;  diarrhoea  supervened, 
and  that  ended  in  dysentery  and  fever,  which  terminated 
fatally  on  the  21st  of  April,  1863.  He  received  the  im- 
remitting  attentions  of  Dr.  Kirk,  and  Dr.  Meller,  surgeon 
of  the  Pioneer,  during  the  fortnight  of  his  illness ;  and  as 
he  had  suffered  very  little  from  fever,  or  any  other  disease, 
in  Africa,  we  had  entertained  strong  hopes  that  his  youth 
and  unimpaired  constitution  would  have  carried  him  through. 
During  the  night  of  the  20th,  his  mind  wandered  so  much, 
that  we  could  not  ctscertain  his  last  wishes ;  and  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  21st,  to  our  great  sorrow,  he  died.  He  was  buried 
on  the  22nd,  near  a  large  tree  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Shire, 
about  five  hundred  yards  from  the  lowest  of  the  Murchison 
Cataracts — and  close  to  a  rivulet,  at  which  the  Lady  Nyassa 
and  Pioneer  lay. 

No  words  can  convey  an  adequate  idea  of  the  scene  of  wide- 


456  SLAVE-TRADE  AND  FAMINE.         Chap.  XXH. 

spread  desolation,  which  the  once  pleasant  Shire  Valley  now 
presented.    Instead  of  smiling  villages  and  crowds  of  people 
coming  with  things  for  sale,  scarcely  a  soul  was  to  be  seen ; 
and,  when  by  chance  one  lighted  on  a  native,  his  firame  bore 
the  impress  of  hunger,  and  his  countenance,  the  look  o£  a 
cringing  broken -spiritedness.    A  drought  had  visited  the 
land  after  the  slave-hunting  panic  swept  over  it.    Had  it 
been  possible  to  conceive  the  thorough  depopulation  which 
had  ensued,  we  should  have  avoided  coming  up  the  river. 
Large  masses  of  the  people  had  fled  down  to  the  Shire, 
only  anxious  to   get  the   river  between  them  and  their 
enemie&    Most  of  the  food  had  been  left  behind;  and  fa- 
mine and  starvation  had  cut  o£f  ao  many,  that  the  remainder 
were  too  few  to  biuy  the  dead.    The  corpses  we  saw  float- 
ing down  the  river  were  only  a  remnant  of  those  that  bad 
perished,  whom  their  friends,  from  weakness,  could  not  bury» 
nor  over-gorged  crocodiles  devour.     It  is  true  that  famine 
caused  a  great  portion  of  this  waste  of  human  life :  but  the 
slave-trade  must  be  deemed  the  chief  agent  in  the  ruin, 
because,  as  we  were  informed,  in  former  droughts  aU  the 
people  flocked  from  the  hills  down  to  the  marshes,  which 
are  capable  of  yielding  crops  of  maize  in  less  than  three 
months,    at  any  time  of  the  year,  and  now   they  were 
afraid  to  do  so.    A  few,  encouraged  by  the  Mission  in  the 
attempt  to  cultivate,  had  their  little  patches  robbed  as  suc- 
cessive swarms  of  fugitives  came  from  the  hills.    Who  can 
blame  these  outcasts  from  house  and  home  for  stealing  to 
save  their  wretched  lives,  or  wonder  that  the  owners  pro- 
tected the  little  all,  on  which  their  own  lives  depended, 
with  club  and  spear?    We  were  informed  by  Mr.  Waller 
of  the  dreadful  blight  which  had  befallen  the  once  smiling 
Shire  Valley.    His  words,  though  strong,  £Eiiled  to  impress 
us  with  the  reality.     In  &ct,  they  were  received,  as  some 


Chap.  XXIT.  MARSH  CULTURE.  457 

may  accept  our  owd,  as  tbged  with  exaggeration ;  but 
when  our  eyes  beheld  the  last  mere  driblets  of  this  cup 
of  woe,  we  for  the  first  time  felt  that  the  enormous  wrongs 
inflicted  on  our  fellow-men  by  slaving  are  beyond  exag- 
geration. 

The  plan  adopted  by  these  Manganja  highlanders  to  raise 
crops  on  the  soft  black  mud  of  the  marshes  might  not 
occur  to  agriculturists  of  other  countries.  Coarse  river-sand 
is  put  down  on  the  rich  dark  ooze  in  spadefuls,  at  about 
two  feet  from  each  other,  and  the  maize  planted  therein. 
In  yegetating,  the  roots  are  free  to  take  what  they  require 
from  the  too  fat  soil  beneath,  and  also  atmospheric  con- 
stituents through  the  sand.  Nearly  the  same  thing  is  done 
when  the  soil  is  more  solid,  but  too  damp.  A  hole  is  dug 
about  a  foot  in  depth,  the  seed  is  thrown  in  and  covered 
with  a  spadeful  of  sand,  and  the  result  is  a  flourishing  crop ; 
where,  without  the  sand,  the  rich  but  too  wet  Ibam  would 
yield  nothing.  In  this  way,  the  people  saved  their  lives 
in  former  droughts,  but  now  the  slave-hunting  panic  seemed 
to  have  destroyed  all  presence  of  mind.  The  few  wretched 
survivors,  even  after  our  arrival,  were  overpowered  by  an 
apathetic  lethargy.  They  attempted  scarcely  any  cultivation, 
which,  for  people  so  given  to  agriculture  as  they  are,  was 
very  remarkable ;  they  were'  seen  daily  devouring  the  corn- 
stalks which  had  sprung  up  in  the  old  plantations,  and 
which  would,  if  let  alone,  have  yielded  com  in  a  month. 
They  could  not  be  aroused  from  their  lethargy.  Famine 
benumbs  all  the  faculties.  We  tried  to  induce  some  to 
exert  themselves  to  procure  food — but  failed.  They  had 
lost  all  their  former  spirit,  and  with  lacklustre  eyes, 
scarcely  meeting  ours,  and  in  whining  tones,  replied  to  every 
proposition  for  their  benefit — "  No,  no !  "     (Ai !  ai !) 

Wherever    we    took    a    walk,    human    skeletons   were 


458  SKELETONS,  THEIR  POSITIONS.       Chap.  XXH. 

seen    in   every    direction,    and   it  was   painfully  interestr 
ing  to  observe   the  different  postures  in  which  the  poor 
wretches  had  breathed  their  last.    A  whole  heap  hsid  been 
thrown  down  a  slope  behind  a  viUage,  where  the  fugitives 
often  crossed  the  river  from  the  east;    and  in  one  hut 
of  the  same  village  no  fewer  than  twenty  drums  had  been 
collected,  probably  the  ferryman's  fees.    Many  had  ended 
their  misery  under  shady  trees— others    under    projecting 
crags  in  the  hills  —  while  others  lay  in  their  huts,  with 
closed  doors,  which  when  opened  disclosed  the  mouldering 
corpse  with  the   poor   le^   round   the   loins  —  the    stull 
fallen  off  the  pillow — ^the  little  skeleton  of  the  child,  that 
Imd  perished  first,  rolled  up  in  a  mat  between  two  large 
skeletons.    The  sight  of  this  desert^  but  eighteen  months 
ago  a  well  peopled  valley,  now  literally  strewn  with  human 
bones,  forced  the  conviction  upon  us,  that  the  destruction 
of  human  life  in  the  middle  passage,  however  great,  con- 
stitutes but  a  small  portion  of  the  waste,  and  made  us  feel 
that  unless  the  slave-trade — that   monster  iniquity,  which 
has  so  long  brooded  over  Africa — is  put  down,  lawful  com- 
merce cannot  be  established. 

We  believed  that,  if  it  were  possible  to  get  a  steamer  upon 
the  Lake,  we  could  by  her  means  put  a  check  on  the  slavers 
from  the  East  Coast;  and  aid  more  effectually  still  in  the 
suppression  of  the  slave-trade,  by  introducing,  by  way  of  the 
Eovuma,  a  lawful  traflBc  in  ivory.  We  therefore  unscrewed 
the  Lady  Nyassa  at  a  rivulet  about  five  hundred  yards 
below  the  first  cataract,  and  began  to  make  a  road  over  the 
thirty-five  or  forty  mfles  of  land  portage,  by  which,  to  carry 
her  up  piecemeal  After  mature  consideration,  we  could  not 
imagine  a  more  noble  work  of  benevolence,  than  thus  to 
introduce  light  and  liberty  into  a  quarter  of  this  fair  earth, 
which  human  lust  has  converted  into  the  nearest  possible 


Chap.  XXII.  ROAIXMAKING.  459 

resemblance  of  what  we  conceive  the  infernal  regions  to 
be — and  we  sacrificed  much  of  our  private  resources  as  an 
offering  for  the  promotion  of  so  good  a  cause. 

The  chief  part  of  the  labour  of  road-making  consisted  in 
cutting  down  trees  and   removing    stones.      The    country- 
being  covered  with  open  forest,  a  small  tree  had  to  be 
cut  about  every  fifty  or  sixty  yards.     The  land  near  the 
river  was  so  very  much  intersected  by  ravines,  that  search 
had  to  be  made,  a  mile  from  its  banks,  for  more  level 
ground.     Experienced  Hottentot  drivers  would  have  taken 
Cape  wagons  without  any  other  trouble  than  that  of  occa- 
sionally cutting  down  a  tree.    No  tsetse  infested  this  dis- 
trict and  the  cattle  brought  from  Johanna  flourished  on  the 
abundant  pasture.      The  first  half-mile  of  road  led  up,  by  a 
gradual  slope,  to  an  altitude  of  two  hundred  feet  above  the 
ship,  and  a  sensible  difference  of  climate  was  felt  even  there. 
For  the  remainder  of  the  distance  the  height  increased, — till, 
at  the  uppermost  Cataract,  we  were  more  than  1200  feet 
above  the  sea.    The  country  here,  having  recovered  from 
the  effects  of  the  drought,  was  bright  with  young  green  wood- 
land, and  mountains  of  the  same  refreshing  hue.     But  the 
absence  of  the  crowds,  which  had  attended  us  as  we  carried 
up  the  boat,  when  the  women  followed  us  for  miles  with  fine 
meal,  vegetables,  and  fat  fowls  for  sale,  and  the  boys  were 
ever  ready  for  a  little  job  —  and  the   oppressive  stillness 
bore  heavily  on  our  spirits.    The  Portuguese  of  Tette  had 
very  effectually  removed  our  labourers.     Not  an  ounce  of 
fresh  provisions  could  be  obtained,  except  what  could  be  shot, 
and  even  the  food  for  our  native  crew  had  to  be  brought 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  the  Zambesi. 

The  diet  of  salt  provisions  and  preserved  meats  without 
vegetables,  with  the  depression  of  spirits  caused  by  seeing 
how  effectually  a  few  wretched  convicts,  aided  by  the  con* 


460  REMONSTRANCE  TO  LISBON.  Chap.  XXK 

nivance  of  officials,  of  whom  better  might  have  been  hoped, 
could  counteract  our  best  eSortSf  and  turn  intended  good  to 
certain  evil,  brought  on  attacks  of  dysentery,  which  went  the 
round  of  the  Expedition — ^and,  Dr.  Kirk  and  Charles  Living- 
stone haying  suffered  most  severely,  it  was  deemed  advisable 
that  they  should  go  home.    This  measure  was  necessary, 
though  much  to  the  regret  of  all — ^for  having  done  so  much, 
they  were  naturally  anxious  to  be  present,  when,  by  the  esta- 
blishing ourselves  on  the  Lake,  all  our  efforts   should  be 
crowned  with  success.    After  it  had  been  decided  that  these 
two  officers,  and  all  the  whites  who  could  be  spared,  should 
be  sent  down  to  the  sea  for  a  passage    to  England,  Dr. 
Livingstone  was   seized   in  May  with  a  severe  attack  of 
dysentery,  which  continued  for  a  month,  and  reduced  him 
to  a  shadow.    Dr.  Kirk  kindly  remained  in  attendance  till 
the  worst  was  passed.     The  parting  took  place  on  the  19th 
of  May. 

We  had  still  the  hope,  that  by  means  of  a  strong  remon- 
strance sent  to  Lisbon,  against  the  Portuguese  officials  in 
Tette   engaging  in  the  slave-huntiog  forays,  some   means 
would  be  resorted  to  for  preventing  slavers  for  the  future 
following  on  our   footsteps   and   neutralizing   our    efforts. 
The  appeal,  however,  we  subsequently  ascertained,  produced 
only  a  shoal  of  promises   from  the  Portuguese  Ministry. 
New  orders  were  to  be  sent  out  to  the  officials,  to  render 
us  every  assistance,  and  a  request  was  made  for  information 
respecting  Dr.  Livingstone*s  geographical  discoveries,  for  the 
especial  use  of  the  Minister  of  Marine  and  the  Colonies: 
though  it  was  notorious  that  his  Excellency  had  made  use  of 
our  previous  information  in  constructing  a  map,  in  which 
by  changing  the  spelling  he  had  attempted  to  prove  that 
Dr.  Livingstone  had  made  no  discoveries  at  alL    Truly  our 
object  was  not  so  much  discovery,  as  a  desire  to  lead  the 


Chap.  XXIT.  PORTUGUESE  STATESMEN.  461 

nation,  which  his  Excellency's  countrymen  had  so  enslared 
and  degraded,  to  a  state  of  freedom  and  civilization.  We 
regret  to  have  to  make  this  statement — ^bnt  it  was  a 
monstrous  mistake  to  belieye  in  the  honour  of  the  Goyem- 
ment  of  Portugal,  or  in  their  having  a  vestige  of  desire  to 
promote  the  amelioration  of  Africa.  One  ought  to  hope  the 
best  of  every  one,  giving,  if  possible,  credit  for  good  inten- 
tions ;  but,  though  deeply  sensible  of  obligations  to  indivi- 
duals of  the  nation,  and  anxious  to  renew  the  expressions 
of  respect  formerly  used,  we  must  declare  the  conduct  of 
Portuguese  statesmen  to  Africa  to  be  simply  infamous. 

After  a  few  miles  of  road  were  completed,  and  the  oxen 
broken  in,  we  resolved  to  try  and  render  ourselves  independ- 
ent of  the  South  for  fresh  provisions,  by  going  in  a  boat  up 
the  Shire,  above  the  Cataracts,  to  the  tribes  at  the  foot  of 
Lake  Nyassa,  who  were  still  untouched  by  the  Ajawa  invasion. 
In  furtherance  of  this  plan  Dr.  Livingstone  and  Mr.  Kae 
determined  to  walk  up  to  examine,  and,  if  need  be,  mend 
the  boat  which  had  been  left  two  seasons  previously  hung 
up  to  the  limb  of  a  large  shady  tree,  before  attempting  to 
carry  another  past  the  Cataracts.  The  Pioneer,  which  was  to 
be  left  in  charge  of  our  active  and  most  trustworthy  gunner, 
Mr.  Edward  Young,  EJ^".,  was  thoroughly  roofed  over  with 
euphorbia  branches  and  grass,  so  as  completely  to  protect 
her  decks  from  the  sun:  she  also  received  daily  a  due 
amount  of  man-of-war  scrubbing  and  washing ;  and,  besides 
having  everything  put  in  shipshape  fashion,  was  every  even- 
ing swung  out  into  the  middle  of  the  river,  for  the  sake  of 
the  greater  amount  of  air  which  circulated  there.  In  ad- 
dition to  their  daily  routine  work  of  the  ship,  the  three 
stokers,  one  sailor,  and  one  carpenter— now  our  comple- 
ment— were  encouraged  to  hunt  for  guinea-fowl,  which  in 
June,  when  the  water  inland  is  dried  up,  come  in  large 


462  WOMAN  WOUNDED.  Chap.  XXU. 

flocks  to  the  river's  banks,  and  roost  on  the  trees  at  night. 
Everjrthing  that  can  be  done  to  keep  mind  and  body  em- 
ployed, tends  to  prevent  fever. 

During  the  period  of  convalescence,  repairs  were  carried 
on  on  the  Pioneer's  engines.  Trees  were  sawn  into  planks 
for  paddle-floats,  by  two  carpenters  from  Senna — and  a 
garden  made  for  vegetables,  to  be  irrigated  by  a  pump  from 
the  stream :  our  plot  of  ground  was  manured — a  new  style 
of  agriculture  to  the  people  of  this  country, — the  wheat  was 
sown  in  May,  when  the  weather  was  cold  and  damp,  and  it 
grew  beautifully ;  this  was  interesting,  as  showing  how  easily 
a  Mission  might  be  supplied  with  com,  by  leading  out  one 
of  the  numerous  springs  which  run  among  the  hills.  Grood 
Bishop  Mackenzie  was  fully  aware  of  this,  but  unfortunately 
sowed  his  crop  at  the  wrong  time  of  the  year.  Had  we 
been  able  to  continue  to  attend  to  ours,  we  should  have 
had  a  crop  in  about  four  months'  time ;  but  duty  soon  called 
us  elsewhere. 

While  we  were  employed  in  these  operations,  some  of  the 
poor  starved  people  about  had  been  in  the  habit  of  cross- 
ing the  river,  and  reaping  the  self-sown  mapira,  in  the  old 
gardens  of  their  countrymen.  In  the  afternoon  of  the  9th, 
a  canoe  came  floating  down  empty,  and  shortly  after  a 
woman  was  seen  swimming  near  the  other  side,  which  was 
about  two  hundred  yards  distant  from  us.  Our  native  crew 
manned  the  boat,  and  rescued  her;  when  brought  on  board, 
she  was  found  to  have  an  arrow-head,  eight  or  ten  inches 
long  in  her  back,  below  the  ribs,  and  slanting  up  through 
the  diaphragm  and  left  lung,  towards  the  heart  —  she  had 
been  shot  from  behind  when  stooping.  Air  was  coming  out 
of  the  wound,  and,  there  being  but  an  inch  of  the  barbed 
arrow-head  visible,  it  was  thought  better  not  to  run  the  risk 
of  her  dying  under  the  operation  necessary  for  its  removal ; 


Chap.  XXII.  TENACITY  OP  LIFE.  463 

so  we  carried  her  up  to  her  own  hut.  One  of  her  relatives  was 
less  scrupulous,  for  he  cut  out  the  arrow  and  part  of  the  lung. 
Mr.  Young  sent  her  occasionally  portions  of  native  corn,  and 
strange  to  say  found  that  she  not  only  heceane  well,  but 
stout.  The  constitution  of  these  people  seems  to  have  a 
wonderful  power  of  self-repair — and  it  could  be  no  slight 
privation  which  had  cut  off  the  many  thousands  that  we  saw 
dead  around  us. 

We  regretted  that,  in  consequence  of  Dr.  Meller  having 
now  sole  medical  charge,  we  could  not  have  his  company 
in  our  projected  trip;  but  he  found  employment  in  botany 
and  natural  history,  after  the  annual  sickly  season  of  March, 
April,  and  May  was  over;  and  his  constant  presence  was 
not  so  much  required  at  the  ship.  Later  in  the  year, 
when  he  could  be  well  spared,  he  went  down  the  river  to 
take  up  an  appointment  he  had  been  offered  in  Madagascar ; 
but  unfortunately  was  so  severely  tried  by  illness  while  do^ 
tained  at  the  coast,  that  for  nearly  two  years,  he  was  not  able 
to  turn  his  abilities  as  a  naturalist  to  account  by  proceeding 
to  that  island.  We  have  no  doubt  but  he  will  yet  distinguish 
himself  in  that  untrodden  field. 


464  CULTIVATION— COTTON.  Chap.  XXIIL 


CHAPTER   XXIIL 

Jane  16th,  1863.  start  for  Upper  Cataracts  — CultiTBtion  — Cotton— Huts, 
empfy,  or  tenanted  by  skeletons — Bofialo-birds  and  dread  of  the  poisoned 
arrow  —  Kombi^  a  species  of  strophanthns,  the  poison  employed — The  'Nga 
pdson  —  Its  effects — Instinct  in  man — Mnkuru-Madse — Sanu^  or  prickly- 
aeeded  grass — Its  use  —  Native  paths — Goinea-fowls — Cotton  patches— 
Expedition  reoaUed — No  other  course  open  to  ns,  labonr  being  all  swepi 
away  by  Portngnese  slave-trading — Mr.  Wall^  witnesses  a  small  part  of  the 
trade  —  Friendliness  of  Ajawa  and  Makololo  to  English —  Try  to  take  ano> 
ther  boat  past  the  Cataracts  —  Loss  of  the  boat — Penitence  of  the  losets— 
The  Cataracts — Geology. 

On  the  16th  of  June,  we  started  for  the  Upper  Cataracts, 
with  a  mule-cart,  our  road  lying  a  distance  of  a  mile  west 
from  the  river.  We  saw  many  of  the  deserted  dwellings 
of  the  people  who  formerly  came  to  us ;  and  were  very  much 
struck  by  the  extent  of  land  under  cultivation,  though  that, 
compared  with  the  whole  country,  is  very  small.  Large 
patches  of  mapira  continued  to  grow, — ^as  it  is  said  it  does 
from  the  roots  for  three  years.  The  mapira  was  mixed  with 
tall  bushes  of  the  Congo-bean,  castor-oil  plants,  and  cotton. 
The  largest  patch  of  this  kind  we  paced,  and  found  it  to  be 
six  hundred  and  thirty  paces  on  one  side — the  rest  were  from 
one  acre  to  three,  and  many  not  more  than  one-third 
of  an  acre.  The  cotton — of  very  superior  qudity — was  now 
dropping  oflf  the  bushes,  to  be  left  to  rot — ^there  was  no  one 
to  gather  what  would  have  been  of  so  much  value  in  Jjanca- 
shire.  The  huts,  in  the  different  villages  we  entered,  were 
standing  quite  perfect.  The  mortars  for  pounding  com — 
the  stones  for  grinding  it — the  water  and  beer  pots — ^the  empty 
corn-safes  and  kitchen  utensils,  were  all  untouched ;  and  most 
of  the  doors  were  shut,  as  if  the  starving  owners  had  gone 


Chap.  XXIH.      BUFFALOES  AND  BUFFALO-BIRDS.  465 

out  to  wander  in  search  of  roots  or  fruits  in  the  forest,  and 
had  never  returned.  When  opened,  several  huts  revealed  a 
ghastly  sight  of  human  skeletons.  Some  were  seen  in  such 
hnnatural  positions,  as  to  give  the  idea  that  they  had  expired 
in  a  faint,  when  trying  to  reach  something  to  allay  tiie 
gna wings  of  hunger. 

We  took  several  of  the  men  as  far  as  the  Mukuru-Madse 
for  the  sake  of  the  change  of  air  and  for  occupation,  and  also  to 
secure  for  the  ships  a  supply  of  buffalo  meat — as  those  animals 
were  reported  to  be  in  abundance  on  that  stream.  But 
though  it  was  evident  from  the  tracks  that  the  report  was 
true,  it  was  impossible  to  get  a  glimpse  of  them.  The  grass 
being  taller  than  we  were,  and  pretty  thickly  planted,  they 
always  knew  of  our  approach  before  we  saw  them.  And  the 
first  intimation  we  had  of  their  being  near  was  the  sound  they 
made  in  rushing  over  the  stones,  breaking  the  branches,  and 
knocking  their  horns  against  each  other.  Once,  when 
seeking  a  ford  for  the  cart,  at  sunrise,  we  saw  a  herd  slowly 
wending  up  the  hillndde  from  the  water.  Sending  for  a 
rifle,  and  stalking  with  intense  eagerness  for  a  fat  beefsteak, 
instead  of  our  usual  fare  of  salted  provisions,  we  got  so  near 
that  we  could  hear  the  bulls  uttering  their  hoarse  deep  low, 
but  could  see  nothing  except  the  mass  of  yellow  grass  in 
front ;  suddenly  the  buflGEdo-birds  sounded  their  alarm-whistle, 
and  away  dashed  the  troop,  and  we  got  sight  of  neither  birds 
nor  beasts.  This  would  be  no  country  for  a  sportsman  except 
when  the  grass  is  short.  The  animals  are  wary,  from  the 
dread  they  have  of  the  poisoned  arrows.  Those  of  the  natives 
who  do  hunt  are  deeply  imbued  with  the  hunting  spirit,  and 
follow  the  game  with  a  stealthy  perseverance  and  cunning, 
quite  extraordinary.  The  arrow,  making  no  noise,  the  herd 
is  followed  up  until  the.  poison  takes  effect,  and  the  wounded 
animal  falls  out.    It  is  then  patiently  watched  till  it  drops — 

2  H 


466 


POISONED  ABROWS. 


Chap.  XXIIL 


a  portion  of  meat  round  the  wound  is  cut  away,  and  all  the 
rest  eaten. 

Poisoned  arrows  are  made  in  two  pieces.  An  iron  barb  is 
firmly  fastened  to  one  end  of  a  small  wand  of  wood,  ten 
inches  or  a  foot  long,  the  other  end  of  which,  fined  down  to  a 
long  point,  is  nicely  fitted,  though  not  otherwise  secured,  in 


Sl''-*.^ 


!ii*;^VsV\ 


mmmi,m»m%9»>.^m»9*^»\***^'    liJdJtUf}}ti**JfJ'*^t' 


nr^igw  "•  ^f  J  'iir  vff  ana 


A.  Gommon  form  of  Ajawa  arrow  iron  head,  with  barbs. 

&.         w       >•        Mangai\)a,  polaoDed  at  head  and  barb6,  and  neck. 

C   Manner  of  inserting  arrow-head  into  the  shafL 

P.  Entire  arrow  nearly  four  feet  long,  and  feathered. 

the  hollow  of  the  reed,  which  forms  the  arrow  shaft.  The 
wood  immediately  below  the  iron  head  is  smeared  with 
the  poison.  "When  the  arrow  is  shot  into  an  animal,  the  reed 
either  falls  to  the  ground  at  once,  or  is  very  soon  brushed  off 
by  the  bushes;  but  the  iron  barb  and  poisoned  upper  part 
of  the  wood  remain  in  the  wound.  If  made  in  one  piece, 
the  arrow  would  often  be  torn  out,  head  and  aU,  by  the 
long  shaft  catching  in  the  underwood,  or  striking  against 
trees.  The  poison  used  here,  and  called  koniii,  is  obtained 
from  a  species  of  strophanthits,  and  is  very  virulent.  Dr. 
Kirk  found  by  an  accidental  experiment  on  himself  that 
it  acts  by  lowering  the  pulse.     In  using  his  tooth-brush. 


Chap.  XXHI.  THE  'NGA  POISON.  467 

which  had  been  in  a  pocket  containing  a  little  of  the  poison, 
he  noticed  a  bitter  taste,  but  attributed  it  to  lus  having 
sometimes  used  the  handle  in  taking  quinine.  Though 
the  quantity  was  small,  it  immediately  showed  its  power 
by  lowering  his  pulse  which  at  the  time  had  been  raised  by 
a  cold,  and  next  day  he  was  perfectly  restored.  Not  much 
can  be  inferred  from  a  single  case  of  this  kind,  but  it  is  pos- 
sible that  the  kombi  may  turn  out  a  valuable  remedy ;  and, 
as  Professor  Sharpey  has  conducted  a  series  of  experiments 
with  this  substance,  we  look  with  interest  for  the  results. 
An  alkaloid  has  been  obtained  from  it  similar  to  strychnine. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  all  kinds  of  wild  animals  die  from 
the  effects  of  poisoned  arrows,  except  the  elephant  and  hip- 
popotamus. The  amount  of  poison  that  this  little  weapon 
can  convey  into  their  systems  being  too  small  to  kill  those 
huge  beasts,  the  hunters  resort  to  the  beam  trap  instead 

Another  kind  of  poison  was  met  with  on  Lake  Nyassa,  which 
was  said  to  be  used  exclusively  for  killing  men.  It  was  put 
on  small  wooden  arrow-heads,  and  carefully  protected  by  a 
piece  of  maize-leaf  tied  round  it.  It  caused  numbness  of  the 
tongue  when  the  smallest  particle  was  tasted.  The  Bushmen 
of  the  northern  part  of  the  Kalahari  were  seen  applying 
the  entrails  of  a  small  caterpillar  which  they  termed  'Nga  to 
their  arrows.  This  venom  was  declared  to  be  so  powerful  in 
producing  delirium,  that  a  man  in  dying  returned  in  imagi- 
nation to  a  state  of  infancy,  and  would  call  for  his  mother's 
breast.  Lions  when  shot  with  it  are  said  to  perish  in  agonies. 
The  poisonous  ingredient  in  this  case  may  be  derived  from 
the  plant  on  which  the  caterpillar  feeds.  It  is  difficult  to 
conceive  by  what  sort  of  experiments  the  properties  of  these 
poisons,  known  for  generations,  were  proved.  Probably  the 
animal  instincts,  which  have  become  so  obtuse  by  civiliza- 
tion, that  children  in  England  eat  the  berries  of  the  deadly 

2  H  2 


468  THE  MUKURU-MADSE.  Chap.  XXIH. 

nigbtshade  {Atropa  belladonna)  without  suspicion,  were  iu  the 
early  uncivilized  state  much  more  keen.  In  some  points 
instmct  is  still  retained  among  savages.  It  is  related  that 
in  the  celebrated  voyage  of  the  French  navigator,  Bougain- 
ville, a  young  lady,  who  had  assumed  the  male  attire,  pei^ 
formed  all  the  hard  duties  incident  to  the  calling  of  a  common 
sailor ;  and,  even  as  servant  to  the  geologist,  carried  a  bag  of 
stones  and  specimens  over  hills  and  dales  without  a  complaint, 
and  without  having  her  sex  suspected  by  her  associates ;  but  on 
landing  among  the  savages  of  one  of  the  South  Sea  Islands^ 
she  was  instantly  recognised  as  a  female.  They  began  to  show 
their  impressions  in  a  way  that  compelled  her  to  confess  her  sex, 
and  throw  herself  on  the  protection  of  the  commander,  which 
of  course  was  granted.  In  like  manner,  the  earlier  portions 
of  the  human  family  may  have  had  their  instincts  as  to  plants, 
more  highly  developed  than  any  of  their  descendants — if 
indeed  much  more  knowledge  than  we  usually  suppose  be 
not  the  eflfect  of  direct  revelation  from  above. 

The  Mukuru-Madse  has  a  deep  rocky  bed.  The  water 
is  generally  about  four  feet  deep,  and  fifteen  or  twenty 
yards  broad.  Before  reaching  it,  we  passed  five  or  six  gullies ; 
but  beyond  it  the  country,  for  two  or  three  miles  from  the 
river,  was  comparatively  smooth.  The  long  grass  was  over- 
running aU  the  native  paths,  and  one  species  {sanu),  which 
has  a  sharp  barbed  seed  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  length, 
enters  every  pore  of  woollen  clothing,  and  highly  irritates 
the  skin.  From  its  hard,  sharp  point  a  series  of  minute  barbs 
are  laid  back,  and  give  the  seed  a  hold  wherever  it  enters : 
the  slightest  touch  gives  it  an  entering  motion,  and  the  UtUe 
hooks  prevent  its  working  out  These  seeds  are  so  abundant 
in  some  spots,  that  the  inside  of  the  stocking  becomes  worse 
than  the  roughest  hair  shirt.  It  is,  however,  an  excellent 
self-sower,  and  fine  fodder ;  it  rises  to  the  height  of  common 


Chap.  XXIIL       GUINEA-FOWLS— COTTON  PATCHES.         4G9 

meadow-grass  in  England,  and  would  be  a  capital  plant  for 
spreading  over  a  new  country  not  so  abundantly  supplied 
with  grasses  as  this  is. 

We  have  sometimes  noticed  two  or  three  leaves  together 
pierced  through  by  these  seeds,  and  thus  made,  as  it  were, 
into  wings  to  carry  them  to  any  soil  suited  to  their  growth. 

We  always  follow  the  native  paths,  though  they  are 
generally  not  more  than  fifteen  inches  broad^  and  so  often 
have  deep  little  holes  in  them,  made  for  the  purpose  of 
setting  traps  for  small  animals,  and  axe  so  much  obscured  by 
the  long  grass,  that  one  has  to  keep  one's  eyes  on  the  ground 
more  than  is  pleasant  In  spite,  however,  of  all  drawbacks, 
it  is  vastly  more  easy  to  travel  on  thdse  tracks,  than  to  go 
straight  over  uncultivated  ground,  or  virgin  forest  A  path 
usually  leads  to  some  village,  though  sometimes  it  turns  out 
to  be  a  mere  game  track  leading  nowhere* 

In  going  north,  we  came  into  a  part  called  Mpemba  where 
Chibisa  was  owned  as  chief,  but  the  people  did  not  know 
that  he  had  been  assassinated  by  the  Portuguese  Terera. 
A  great  deal  of  grain  was  lying  round  the  hut,  where  we 
spent  the  night.  Very  large  numbers  of  turtledoves  feasted 
undisturbed  on  the  tall  stalked  mapira  ears,  and  we  easily 
secured  plenty  of  fine  fat  guinea-fowls — ^now  allowed  to  feed 
leisurely  in  the  deserted  gardens.  The  reason  assigned  for 
all  this  listless  improvidence  was  "  There  are  no  women  to 
grind  the  com — ^all  are  dead." 

The  cotton  patches  in  all  cases  seemed  to  have  been  so 
well  cared  for,  and  kept  so  free  of  weeds  formerly,  that,  though 
now  untended,  but  few  weeds  had  sprung  up  ;  and  the  bushes 
were  thus  preserved  in  the  annual  grass  burnings.  Many 
baobab-trees  grow  in  different  spots,  and  the  few  people  seen 
were  using  the  white  pulp  found  between  the  seeds  to  make 
a  pleasant  subacid  drink. 


470  THE  AJAWA  AND  MANGANJA.         CJhap.  XXTTT. 

On  passing  Malango,  near  the  uppermost  Cataract,  not 
a  soul  was  to  be  seen ;  but,  as  we  rested  opposite  a  beautifal 
tree-covered  island,  the  meny  Toices  of  children  at  play 
fell   on    our   ears — ^the    parents  had  fled  thither  for  pro- 
tection fix)m   the  slaye-hunting  Ajawa,  still   urged  on  by 
the  occasional  visits  of  the  Portuguese  agents  from  Tette. 
The  Ajawa,  instead  of  passing  below  the  Cataracts,  now  avoided 
us,  and  crossed  over  to  the  east  side  near  to  the  tree  on  which 
we  had  hung  the  boat.     Those  of  the  Manganja,  to  whom  we 
could  make  ourselves  known,  readily  came  to  us;  but  the 
majority  had  lost  all   confidence  in  themselves,   in   each 
other,  and  in  every  one  else.    The  boat  had  been  burned 
about  three  months   previously,   and  the  Manganja  were 
very  anxious  that  we  should  believe  that  this  had  been 
the  act  of  the  Ajawa;  but  on  scanning  the  spot  we  saw 
that  it  was  more  likely  to  have  caught  fire  in  the  grass- 
burning  of  the  country.    Had  we  intended  to  be  so  long  in 
returning  to  it,  we  should  have  hoisted  it  bottom  upwards ; 
for,  as  it  was,  it  is  probable  that  a^  quantity  of  dried  leaves 
lay  inside,   and  a  spark  ignited  the  whole.     All  the  trees 
within  fifty  yards  were  scorched  and  killed,  and  the  nails, 
iron,  and  copper  sheathing,  all  lay  undisturbed   beneatL 
Had  the  Ajawa  done  the  deed,  they  would  have  taken 
away  the  copper  and  iron. 

Our  hopes  of  rendering  ourselves  independent  of  the  south 
for  provisions,  by  means  of  this  boat,  being  thus  disappointed, 
we  turned  back  with  the  intention  of  canying  another  up  to 
the  same  spot ;  and,  in  order  to  find  level  ground  for  tins, 
we  passed  across  from  the  Shire  at  Malango  to  the  upper  part 
of  the  stream  Lesungwe.  A  fine,  active,  intelligent  fellow, 
called  Pekila,  guided  us,  and  was  remarkable  as  almost  the 
only  one  of  the  population  left  with  any  spirit  in  him.  The 
depressing  effect  which  the  slave-hunting  scourge  has  upon 


Chap.  XXm.  RECALL  OF  THE  EXPEDITION.  471 

the  native  miud,  though  little  to  be  wondered  at,  is  sad,  very 
sad  to  witness.  Musical  instruments,  mats,  pillows,  mortars 
for  pounding  meal,  were  lying  about  unused,  and  becoming 
the  prey  of  the  white  ants.  With  all  their  little  comforts 
destroyed,  the  survivors  were  thrown  still  further  back  into 
barbarism. 

It  is  of  little  importance  perhaps  to  any  but  travellers,  to 
notice  that  in  occupying  one  night  a  well-built  hut,  which 
had  been  shut  up  for  some  time,  the  air  inside  at  once  gave 
us  a  chill,  and  an  attack  of  fever ;  both  of  which  vanished 
when  the  place  was  well-ventilated  by  means  of  a  fire.  We 
have  frequently  observed  that  lighting  a  fire  early  in  the 
mornings,  even  in  the  hottest  time  of  the  year,  gives  fresh- 
ness to  the  whole  house,  and  removes  that  feeling  of  closeness 
and  languor,  which  a  hot  climate  induces. 

On  the  night  of  the  1st  July,  1863,  several  loud  peals  of 
thunder  awoke  us ;  the  moon  was  shining  brightly,  and  not 
a  cloud  to  be  seen.  All  the  natives  remarked  on  the  clear- 
ness of  the  sky  at  the  time,  and  next  morning  said,  "  We 
thought  it  was  God  "  (Morungo). 

On  arriving  at  the  ship  on  the  2nd  July,  we  found  a 
despatch  from  Earl  Eussell,  containing  instructions  for  the 
withdrawal  of  the  Expedition.  The  devastation  caused  by 
slave-hunting  and  famine  lay  all  around.  The  labour  had 
been  as  cotnpletely  swept  away  from  the  Great  Shire  Valley, 
as  it  had  been  from  the  Zambesi,  wherever  Portuguese  in- 
trigue or  power  extended  The  continual  forays  of  Mariano 
had  spread  ruin  and  desolation  on  our  south-east  as  far  ad 
Mount  Clarendon. 

While  this  was  going  on  in  our  rear,  the  Tette  slave- 
hunters  from  the  West  had  stimulated  the  Ajawa  to  sweep 
all  the  Manganja  off  the  hills  on  our  East;  and  slaving 
parties  for  this  purpose  were  still  passing  the  Shire  above 


472  HOPELESSNESS  OF  A  CHANGE.       Chip.  XXm. 

the  Cataracts.  In  addition  to  the  confession  of  the  Gk)Yenior 
of  Tette^  of  an  intention  to  go  on  with  this  slairing  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  counsel  of  his  elder  brother  at  Mosam- 
bique,  we  had  reason  to  believe  that  slavery  went  on  under 
the  eye  of  his  Excellency,  the  Govemor-Greneral  himself; 
and  this  was  subsequently  corroborated  by  our  recognising 
two  women  at  Mosfunbique  who  had  lived  within  a  hundred 
yards  of  the  Mission-station  at  Magomero.  They  were  well 
known  to  our  attendants,  and  had  formed  a. part  of  a  gang 
of  several  hundreds  taken  to  Mosambique  by  the  Ajawa  at 
the  very  time  when  his  Excellency  was  entertaining  Englidi 
officers  with  anti-slavery  palavers.  To  any  one  who  under- 
stands how  minute  the  information  is,  which  Portuguese 
governors  possess  by  means  of  their  own  slaves^  and  through 
gossiping  traders  who  seek  to  curry  their  favour,  it  is  idle  to 
assert  that  all  tliis  slaving  goes  on  without  their  approval  and 
connivance. 

If  more  had  been  wanted  to  prove  the  hopelessness  of  pro- 
ducing any  change  in  the  system  which  has  prevailed  ever 
since  our  allies,  the  Portuguese,  entered  the  country,  we 
had  it  in  the  impunity  with  which  the  freebooter,  Terera, 
who  had  murdered  Chibisa,  was  allowed  to  carry  on  his 
forays.  Belchior,  another  marauder,  had  been  checked, 
but  was  still  allowed  to  make  war,  as  they  term  slave- 
hunting. 

Mr.  Horace  Waller  was  living  for  some  five  months  on 
Mount  Morambala,  a  position  from  which  the  whole  process 
of  the  slave-trade,  and  depopulation  of  the  country  around 
could  be  well  noted.  The  mountain  overlooks  the  Shire, 
the  beautiful  meanderings  of  which  are  distinctly  seen,  on  dear 
days,  for  thirty  miles.  This  river  was  for  some  time  supposed 
to  be  closed  against  Mariano,  who,  as  a  mere  matter  of  form, 
was  declared  a  rebel  against  the  Portuguese  flag.    When, 


Chap.  XXIH.        PAYMENT  FOR  CANOE-WORK.  473 

bowever,  it  became  no  longer  possible  to  keep  up  the  sham, 
the  river  was  thrown  open  to  him ;  and  Mr.  Waller  has  seen 
in  a  single  day  from  fifteen  to  twenty  canoes  of  dififerent 
sizes  going  down,  laden  with  slayes,  to  the  Portaguese  settle- 
ments from  the  so-called  rebel  camp.  These  cargoes  were 
composed  entirely  of  women  and  children.  For  three  months 
this  traffic  was  incessant,  and  at  last,  so  completely  was  the 
mask  thrown  off,  that  one  of  the  officials  came  to  pay  a  visit 
to  Bishop  Tozer  on  another  part  of  the  same  mountain,  and, 
combining  business  with  pleasure,  collected  payment  for  some 
canoe  work  done  for  the  Missionary  party,  and  with  this  pur- 
chased slaves  from  the  rebels,  who  had  only  to  be  hailed  from 
the  bank  of  the  river.  When  he  had  concluded  the  bcupgain  he 
trotted  the  slaves  out  for  inspection  in  Mr.  Waller*s  presence. 
This  official,  Senhor  Mesquita,  was  the  only  officer  who  could 
be  forced  to  live  at  the  Kongone.  From  certain  circum- 
stances in  his  life,  he  had  fallen  under  the  power  of  the 
local  Grovemment;  all  the  other  Custom-house  officers  re- 
ftised  to  go  to  Kongone,  so  here  poor  Mesquita  must  live 
on  a  misemble  pittance — must  live,  and  perhaps  slave,  sorely 
against  his  wilL  His  name  is  not  brought  forward  with  a 
view  of  throwing  any  odium  on  his  character.  The  disinter- 
ested kindness  which  he  showed  to  Dr.  Meller,  and  others, 
forbids  that  he  should  be  mentioned  by  us  with  anything  like 
unkindness. 

Other  parties  were  out  to  the  soutli-east  of  Senna,  slaving 
for  exportation  from  Iiihambane.  While  we  were  at  Shu- 
panga,  an  embassy  was  sent  to  us  with  an  offer  of  ivory,  and 
all  the  land  not  occupied  by  the  Zulus,  if  we  would  only  send 
a  few  people  to  expel  the  Senna  slave-hunters  from  the 
neighbourhood.  Here,  as  with  what  are  called  the  emigrant 
Boers  of  the  interior  of  the  Cape,  the  secret  of  power  is,  the 
possession  of  gunpowder ;  bowmen  cannot  stand  the  attack  of 


474 


PORTUaUESE  STATESMEN. 


Chap.  XXIII. 


muskets,  and  whoever  possesses  access  to  a  seaport  has  the 
power  of  carrying  on  slaving  to  any  extent ;  for  on  the  East 
Coast  there  is  no  restriction  in  the  introduction  of  arms  and 
ammunition.  The  laws  are  quite  as  stringent  against  these 
articles  as  at  the  Cape ;  but,  like  the  laws  for  the  abolition 
of  slavery,  no  one  obeys  them — they  are  only  for  quotatkin 
and  self-glorification  in  Europe, 

Under  all  these  considerations,  with  the  £Eict  that  we 
had  not  found  the  Bovuma  so  favourable  for  navigation 
at  the  time  of  our  visit  as  we  expected,  it  was  impossible 
not  to  coincide  in  the  wisdom  of  our  withdrawal ;  but  we 
deeply  regretted  that  we  had  ever  given  credit  to  the  Por- 
tuguese Government  for  any  desire  to  ameliorate  the  condition 
of  the  African  race ;  for,  with  half  the  labour  and  expense 
anywhere  else,  we  should  have  made  an  indelible  mark  of 
improvement  on  a  section  of  the  Continent.  Viewing  Pois 
tuguese  statesmen  in  the  light  of  the  laws  they  have  passed 
for  the  suppression  of  slavery  and  the  slave-trade,  and  by 
the  standard  of  the  high  character  of  our  own  public  men, 
it  cannot  be  considered  weakness  to  have  believed  in  the 
sincerity  of  the  anxiety  to  aid  our  enterprise,  professed 
by  the  Lisbon  Ministry.  We  hoped  to  benefit  both  Por- 
tuguese and  Africans  by  introducing  free-trade  and  Christi- 
anity. Our  aUies,  unfortunately,  cannot  see  the  slightest 
benefit  in  any  measure,  that  does  not  imply  raising  them- 
selves up  by  thrusting  others  down.      The  oflScial*  paper 


•  The  Portuguese  Government 
lately  employed  a  gentleman  named 
Lacerda  to  write  a  series  of  papers 
in  their  official  journal,  the  '  Diario  de 
Lisboa,*  to  prove  that  Dr.  Livingstone 
made  a  great  mistake  in  ascribing  any 
merit  to  Speke  and  Grant's  discovery 
of  what  appears  to  be  the  main  source 
of  the  Nile.    The  ancient  Portuguese 


missionaries,  Jeronymo  Lobo  and  Jofio 
dos  Santos,  and  others,  it  seems,  pre- 
ceded our  countrymen.  In  iact»  this 
clever  writer  proves  to  bis  own  satis- 
faction that  the  English  have  dis- 
covered next  to  nothing  in  A&ica,  As 
no  one  out  of  Portugal  requires  a 
refutation  of  these  loose  statement^ 
we  turn  to  a  question  of  more  import- 


Chap.  XXm. 


THE  EEV.  HENRY  ROWLEY. 


475 


of  the  Lisbon  Government  has  since  let  us  know  "  that  their 
policy  was  directed  to  frustrating  the  grasping  designs  of  the 
British  Government  to  the  dominion  of  Eastern  Africa." 
We,  who  were  on  the  spot,  and  behind  the  scenes,  knew  that 
feelings  of  private  benevolence  had  the  chief  share  in  the 
operations  undertaken  for  introducing  the  reign  of  peace  and 
good  will  on  the  Lakes  and  central  regions,  which  for  ages 


ance.  Do  the  Portagueae  Ministiy, 
by  employing  the  writer  of  tliese 
papers,  meao  to  endorse  the  deeds  of 
their  officials  in  Africa?  We  have 
believed  them  to  be  incapable  of  so 
doing ;  bnt  they  quoted  with  so  much 
eagerness  a  private  note  from  the  Rev. 
Henry  Eowley,  which  he  never  in- 
tended for  publication,  that  we  give 
our  friend's  opinion  as  to  the  chief 
cause  of  the  disasters  which  hefell  the 
Mission  of  which  he  was  a  member. 
In  &e  intercourse  between  the  Mission 
and  Expedition  not  a  single  break 
occurred  in  our  friendly  intercourse 
and  good  will. 

**  Bath«  Fdxruary  22«  1865. 

•*  Deab  De.  Livingstone, 

"Waller  has  written  to  me  on 
the  subject  of  my  letter  to  Mr. 
Glover,  and  he  tells  me  that  a  certain 
Portuguese  publication,  professedly 
quoting  &om  that  letter,  says  in  sub- 
stance— 

••  'The  Rev.  Mr.  Rowley  states  that 
the  attack  by  Dr.  Livingstone  on  Uie 
Ajawa  wafi  the  cause  of  the  final  non- 
success  of  the  Mission.' 

••  I  never  said  that ;  nor  have  I  at 
any  time  said  anything  from  which 
such  a  statement  could  be  justly  in- 
ferred. 

"The  misfortuues  of  the  Mission 
were  owing  to  loss  of  stores,  the  fa- 
mine, and,  dbace  aU,  to  the  evil  prac- 


tices of  the  Portuguese,  who  kindled 
and  kept  up  wars  between  the  tribes, 
in  order  that  they  might  purchase  the 
prisoners  for  slaves. 

••  The  Portuguese  were  in  our  hour 
of  need  of  great  service  to  us  in  sup- 
plying us  with  food.  Personally,  we 
missionaries  had  much  to  thank  them 
for;  but  their  conduct  towards  the 
natives  is  past  description  bad;  and 
I  am  entirely  one  with  you  in  your 
denouncement  of  such  conduct. 

"I  have  always  said  and  thought 
you  did  well  in  releasing  the  slaves, 
and  in  going  against  the  Ajawa  under 
the  idea  that  they  were  a  mere  slaving 
horde.  My  letter  to  Mr.  Glover  was 
not  written  to  blame  you  for  what  you 
had  done,  nor  to  throw  the  responsi- 
bility of  our  acts  upon  you,  but  to 
make  known  to  our  friends  at  the 
Cape  that  you  had  done  what  we  had 
done,  and  that  you  were  the  first  to 
do  it. 

"  Had  you  at  that  time  been  in  the 
same  mind  about  our  attack  upon  the 
Ajawa  as  you  were  when  you  wrote  to 
Sir  Culling  Eardley,  my  letter  would 
never  have  been  written ;  and  seeing 
the  ill  effect  it  appears  to  have  pro- 
duced, I  am  very  sorry  it  was  ever 
written. 

"  I  hope  what  I  have  said  will  meet 
your  wishes. 

"  Very  truly  yours, 

"  H£NRT  Rowley/* 


476        AJAWA  AND  MAKOLOLO  FRIENDSHIP.    Chap.  XXni. 

have  been  the  abodes  of  violence  and  bloodshed.  But  that 
great  change  was  not  to  be  accomplished.  The  narrow-minded 
would  ascribe  all  that  was  attempted  to  the  grasping  pro- 
pensity of  the  English.  But  the  motives  that  actuate  many 
in  England,  both  in  public  and  private  life,  are  much  more 
noble  than  the  world  gives  them  credit  for. 

Seeing,  then,  that  we  were  not  yet  arrived  at  "  the  good 
time  coming,"  and  that  it  was  quite  impossible  to  take  the 
Pioneer  down  to  the  sea  till  the  floods  of  December,  we 
made  arrangements  to  screw  the  Lady  Nyassa  together; 
and,  in  order  to  improve  the  time  intervem'ng,  we  resolved 
to  carry  a  boat  past  the  Cataracts  a  second  time,  sail  along 
the  eastern  shore  of  the  Lake,  and  round  the  northern  end, 
and  also  collect  data  by  which  to  verify  the  information 
collected  by  Colonel  Eigby,  that  the  19,000  slaves,  who  go 
through  the  Custom-house  of  Zanzibar  annually,  are  chiefly 
drawn  from  Lake  Nyassa  and  the  Valley  of  the  Shire. 

The  people  attached  to  the  Mission  by  Bishop  Mackenzie 
now  formed  a  little  free  community  near  Chibisa's,  supporting 
themselves  by  cultivating  the  soiL  They  imitated  in  this 
respect  the  Makololo,  who  had  formed  very  extenaiTe 
gardens,  and  were  now  able  to  sell  grain  and  vegetables 
to  the  Expedition.  The  friendly  feelings  of  both  these 
people  towards  the  English  were  immistakeable.  An 
instance  in  proof  of  this  may  be  cited.  The  Makololo 
village  was  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  distant  from  the 
Mission-huts,  one  of  which  was  accidentally  set  on  fire  by 
the  owner ;  some  loaded  guns  inside  went  oflf  as  the  fire 
reached  the  powder,  and  the  Makololo,  hearing  the  unwonted 
sounds  of  guns  in  the  evening,  seized  tiieir  arms  and 
rushed  to  the  rescue  of  the  English,  supposing  that  they 
were  attacked  by  an  enemy  with  firearms. 

Notwithstanding  their  refusal  to  return  with  medicine  for 


Chap.  XXIH.  WE  TRY  ANOTHER  BOAT.  477 

their  Chief,  and  in  spite  of  several  aecnsations  made  against 
them  by  the  black  men  from  the  Cape,  which,  after  a  good 
deal  of  careful  inquiry,  could  not  be  proved;  we  remem- 
bered their  noble  conduct  in  saving  our  lives  in  the  river 
at  Karivua,  and,  with  this  fresh  proof  of  their  willingness 
to  risk  their  lives  for  our  countrymen,  we  selected  live  of 
the  best  rowers  among  them,  in  the  belief  that  these 
five  were  worth  fifty  of  any  other  tribe  for  the  navigation 
of  the  Lake,  or  for  any  difficulty  which  might  occur  in 
the  course  of  our  journey  northwards.  Our  party  consisted 
of  twenty  natives,  some  of  whom  were  Johanna  men,  and 
were  supposed  to  be  capable  of  managing  the  six  oxen  which 
drew  the  small  wagon  with  a  boat  on  it.  A  team  of  twelve 
Cape  oxen,  with  a  Hottentot  driver  cuid  leader,  would 
have  taken  the  wagon  over  the  country  we  had  to  pass 
through  with  the  greatest  ease;  but  no  sooner  did  we  get 
beyond  the  part  of  the  road  already  made,  than  our  drivers 
encountered  obstructions  in  the  way  of  trees  and  gullies, 
which  it  would  have  been  a  waste  of  time  to  have  over- 
come by  felhng  timber  and  hauling  out  the  wagon  by 
block  and  tackle  purchases.  The  Ajawa  and  Manganja 
settled  at  Chibisa's  were  therefore  sent  for,  and  they  took 
the  boat  on  their  shoulders  and  carried  it  briskly,  in  a 
few  days,  past  all  the  Cataracts  except  one ;  then  coming  to 
a  comparatively  still  reach  of  the  river,  they  took  advantage 
of  it  to  haul  her  up  a  couple  of  miles.  The  Makololo  had 
her  then  entirely  in  charge ;  for,  being  accustomed  to  rapids 
in  their  own  country,  no  better  boatmen  could  be  desired. 
The  river  here  is  very  narrow,  and  even  in  what  are  called 
still  places,  the  current  is  very  strong,  and  often  obliged 
them  to  haul  the  boat  along  by  the  reeds  on  the  banks,  or  to 
hand  a  tow-rope  ashore.  The  reeds  are  full  of  cowitch 
(Dolichoa  p'uriens),  the  pods  of  which  are  covered   with 


478  LOSS  OF  THE  BOAT.  Chap.  XXIIL 

what  looks  a  fine  velvety  down,  but  is  in  reality  a  multitude 
of  fine  prickles,  which  go  in  by  the  million,  and  caused  an 
itching  and  stinging  in  the  naked  bodies  of  those  who  were 
pulling  the  tow-rope,  that  made  them  wriggle  as  if  stung 
by  a  whole  bed  of  nettles.  Those  on  board  required  to  be 
men  of  ready  resource  with  oars  and  punting-poles,  and  soch 
they  were.  But,  nevertheless,  they  found  after  attempting 
to  pass  by  a  rock,  round  which  the  water  rushed  in  whiils, 
that  the  wiser  plan  would  be  to  take  the  boat  ashore,  and 
carry  her  past  the  last  Cataract.  When  this  was  reported, 
the  carriers  were  called  from  the  various  shady  trees  under 
which  they  had  taken  rei'uge  from  the  sun.  This  was 
midwinter,  but  the  sun  is  always  hot  by  day  here,  though 
the  nights  are  cold.  Five  Zambesi  men,  who  had  been  all 
their  lives  accustomed  to  great  heavy  canoes, — the  chief  re- 
commendation of  which  is  said  to  be,  that  they  can  be  run 
against  a  rock  with  the  full  force  of  the  current  without  in- 
jury— were  very  desirous  to  show  how  much  better  they  could 
manage  our  boat  than  the  Makololo;  three  jumped  into 
her  when  our  backs  were  turned,  and  two  hauled  her  up  a 
little  way;  the  tide  caught  her  bow,  we  heard  a  shout  of 
distress,  the  rope  was  out  of  their  hands  in  a  moment,  and 
there  she  was,  bottom  upwards ;  a  turn  or  two  in  an  eddy, 
and  away  she  went,  like  an  arrow,  down  the  Cataracts.  One 
of  the  men  in  swimming  ashore  saved  a  rifie.  The  whole 
party  ran  with  all  their  might  along  the  bank,  but  never 
more  did  we  see  our  boat 

The  five  performers  in  this  catastrophe  approached  with 
penitential  looks.  They  had  nothing  to  say,  nor  had  we- 
They  bent  down  slowly,  and  touched  our  feet  with  both 
hands.  "Ku  kuata  moendo"  —  "to  catch  the  foot" — i^ 
their  way  of  asking  forgiveness.  It  was  so  like  what  we 
have  seen  a  little  child  do — try  to  bring  a  dish  imbidden 


Chap.  XXIH.         THE  PRINCIPAL  CATARACTS.  479 

to  its  papa,  and  letting  it  fall,  burst  into  a  cry  of  distress — 
that  they  were  only  sentenced  to  go  back  to  the  ship, 
get  provisions,  and,  in  the  ensuing  journey  on  foot,  carry 
as  much  as  they  could,  and  thus  make  up  for  the  loss  of 
the  boat 

It  was  excessively  annoying  to  lose  all  this  property, 
and  be  deprived  of  the  means  of  doing  the  work  proposed, 
on  the  east  and  north  of  the  Lake;  but  it  would  have 
been  like  crying  over  spilt  milk,  to  do  otherwise  now  than 
make  the  best  use  we  could  of  our  legs.  The  men  were 
sent  back  to  the  ship  for  provisions,  cloth,  and  beads; 
and  while  they  are  gone,  we  may  say  a  little  of  the  Cataracts 
which  proved  so  fatal  to  our  boating  plan. 

They  begin  in  15°  20'  S.,  and  end  in  lat  15°  55'  S.,  the 
difference  of  latitude  is  therefore  35'.  The  river  runs 
in  this  space  nearly  north  and  south,  till  we  pass  IJIalango; 
so  the  entire  distance  is  under  40  miles.  The  principal 
Cataracts  are  five  in  number,  and  are  called  Pamofunda 
or  Pamozima,  Morewa,  Panoreba  or  Tedzane,  Ptunpatamanga, 
and  Papekira.  Besides  these,  three  or  four  smaller  ones 
might  be  mentioned ;  as,  for  instance,  Mamvira,  where  in  our 
ascent  we  first  met  the  broken  water,  and  heard  that  gush- 
ing sound,  which,  from  the  interminable  windings  of  some 
200  miles  of  river  below,  we  had  come  to  believe  the  tranquil 
Shire  could  never  make.  While  these  lesser  cataracts  de- 
scend at  an  angle  of  scarcely  20°,  the  greater  fall  100  feet 
in  100  yards,  at  an  angle  of  about  45°,  and  one  at  an  angle 
of  70°.  One  part  of  Pamozima  is  perpendicular,  and,  when 
the  river  is  in  flood,  causes  a  cloud  of  vapour  to  ascend, 
which,  in  our  journey  to  Lake  Shirwa,  we  saw  at  a  distance 
of  at  least  eight  miles.  The  entire  descent  from  the  Upper 
to  the  Lower  Shire  is  1200  feet  Only  on  one  spot  in  all  that 
distance  is  the  current  moderate — namely,  above  Tedzane. 


480  GEOLOGY.  Chap.  XXTTl. 

The  rest  is  all  rapid,  and  much  of  it  being  only  fifty  or  eighty 
yards  wide,  and  mshing  like  a  mill-race,  it  gives  the  im- 
pression of  water-power,  sufficient  to  drive  all  the  mills  in 
Manchester,  running  to  waste.  Pamofunda,  or  Pamozima» 
has  a  deep  shady  grove  on  its  right  bank.  When  we  were 
walking  alone  through  its  dark  shade,  we  were  startled 
by  a  shocking  smell  like  that  of  a  dissecting-room;  and 
on  looking  up  saw  dead  bodies  in  mats  suspended  fix>m  the 
branches  of  the  trees,  a  mode  of  burial  somewhat  similar  to 
that  which  we  subsequently  saw  practised  by  the  Parsees  in 
their  "towers  of  silence"  at  Poonah  near  Bombay.  The 
name  Pamozima  means,  "the  departed  spirits  or  gods" — 
a  fit  name  for  a  place  over  which,  according  to  the  popula^ 
belief,  the  disembodied  souls  continually  hover. 

The  rock  lowest  down  in  the  series  is  dark  reddish-grey 
syenite.     This   seems  to  have  been  an  upheaving  agent, 
for  the  mica  schists  above  it  are  much  disturbed.    Daric 
trappean  rocks  full  of  hornblende  have  in  many  places  burst 
through  these  schists,  and  appear  in  nodules  on  the  surface. 
The  highest  rock  seen  is  a  fine  sandstone  of  closer  grain  than 
that  at  Tette,  and  quite  metamorphosed  where  it  comes  into 
contact  with  the  igneous  rocks  below  it    It  sometimes  gives 
place  to  quai-tz  and  reddish  clay  schists,  much  baked  by  heat 
This  is  the  usual  geological  condition  on  the  right  bank  of 
the  Cataracts.    On  the  other  side  we  pass  over  masses  of 
porphyritic  trap,  in  contact  with  the  same  mica  schists,  and 
these  probably  give  to  the  soil  the  great  fertility  we  ob- 
served.   The  great  body  of  the  mountains  is  syenite.    So 
much  mica  is  washed  into  the  river,  that  on  looking  atten- 
tively on  the  stream  one  sees  myriads  of  particles  floating 
and  glancing  in  the  sun;  and  this,  too,  even  at  low  water. 


Chap.  XXIV.  TRAVELLING  BEVERAGE.  481 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

TraTelling  beverage  — Good  behayioor  of  the  English  sailors — Motola  island 

—  Starvation  fare  of  natives — New  coarse  of  march  —  The  Rivi-rivi — A 
country  after  the  scourge  of  war  has  passed  over  it  —  Lose  our  way  —  Hospi- 
tality of  the  people  — Kirk's  Range — Valley  of  G^oa  or  Gova  —  Disintegra- 
tion  of  rocks  in  a  hot  climate  —  Our  party  viewed  as  slave-traders —  Matunda 
— Reach  the  heel  of  Lake  Nyassa — Eatosa's  village — Ajawa  migrations— 
Native  agriculture  —  Bishop  Mackenzie's  idea  of  Native  agriculture — Cotton 

—  Chinsamba — The  Assyrian  countenance,  the  true  negro  type —  The  Babisa 
— Laugh  of  native  women  —  Cry  of  children — Course  N.E.  to  the  shores 
of  Lake  Molamba — The  Chia  fish-net  —  Hoes — Savages  could  not  have 
continued  to  live,  had  thoy  been  entirely  uninstnicted — They  needed  a 
superhuman  instructor. 

It  was  the  15th  of  August  before  the  men  returned  from 
the  ship,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Eae  and  the  steward  of  the 
Pioneer.  They  brought  two  oxen,  one  of  which  was  instantly 
slaughtered  to  put  courage  into  all  hearts,  and  some  bottles 
of  wine,  a  present  from  Waller  and  Alington.  We  never 
carried  wine  before,  but  this  was  precious  as  an  expression 
of  kindheartedness  on  the  part  of  the  donors.  If  one  at- 
tempted to  carry  either  wine  or  spirits,  as  a  beverage,  he 
would  require  a  whole  troop  of  followers  for  nothing  else. 
Our  greatest  luxury  in  travelling  was  tea  or  coffee.  We 
never  once  carried  sugar  enough  to  last  a  journey,  but  coffee 
is  always  good,  while  the  sugarless  tea  is  only  bearable,  be- 
cause of  the  unbearable  gnawing  feeling  of  want  and  sinking 
which  ensues  if  we  begin  to  travel  in  the  mornings  without 
something  warm  in  the  stomach.  Our  drink  generally  was 
water,  and  if  cool,  nothiug  can  equal  it  in  a  hot  climate. 
We  usually  carried  a  bottle  of  brandy  rolled  up  in  our  blan- 
kets, but  that  was  used  only  as  a  medicine ;  a  spoonful  in 
hot  water  before  going  to  bed,  to  fend  off  a  chill  and  fever. 

2  I 


482  OUR  ENGLISH  SAILORS.  Chap.  XXIV. 

Spirits  always  do  harm,  if  the  fever  has  fairly  began ;  and 
it  is  probable  that  brandy-and-water  has  to  answer  for  a 
good  many  of  the  deaths  in  Africa. 

Mr.  Rae  had  made  gratifying  progress  in  screwing  to- 
gether the  Lady  Nyassa.  He  had  the  zealous  co-operation 
of  three  as  fine  steady  workmen  as  ever  handled  tools ;  and^ 
as  they  were  noble  specimens  of  English  sailors,  we  would 
fain  mention  the  names  of  men  who  are  an  honour  to  the 
British  navy — John  Eeid,  John  Pennell,  and  Bichard  Wil- 
son. The  reader  will  excuse  our  doing  so,  but  we  desire  to 
record  how  much  they  were  esteemed,  and  how  thankful 
we  felt  for  theu*  good  behaviour.  The  weather  was  delight- 
fully cool ;  and,  with  fuU  confidence  in  those  left  behind,  it 
was  with  light  hearts  we  turned  our  faces  north.  Mr.  Bae 
accompanied  us  a  day  in  front;  and,  as  all  our  party  had 
earnestly  advised  that  at  least  two  Europeans  should  be 
associated  together  on  the  journey,  the  steward  was  at  the 
last  moment  taken.  Mr.  Bae  returned  to  get  the  Lady 
Nyassa  ready  for  sea;  and,  as  she  drew  less  water  than 
the  Pioneer,  take  her  down  to  the  ocean  in  October. 
One  reason  for  taking  the  steward  is  worth  recording. 
Both  he  and  a  man  named  King,*  who,  though  only  a 
leading  stoker  in  the  Navy,  had  been  a  promising  student 
in  the  University  of  Aberdeen,  had  got  into  that  weak 
bloodless-looking  state  which  residence  in  the  lowlands 
without  much  to  do  or  think  about  often  induces.  The  best 
thing  for  this  is  change  and  an  active  life.  A  couple  of  days' 
march  only  as  far  as  the  Mukuru-Madse,  infused  so  much 
vigour  into  King  that  he  was  able  to  walk  briskly  back. 
Consideration  for  the  steward's  health  led  to  his  being  selected 
for  this  northern  journey,  and  the  measure  was  so  com- 

*  A  brother,  we  belieye,  of  one  who  I  famous    but  mifortimate   Ansttalian 
accompanied  Borke  and  Willis  in  the  |  Expedition. 


Chap.  XXIV.        STARVATION  FABE  OF  NATIVES.  483 

pletely  saccessful  that  it  was  often,  in  the  hard  march, 
a  subject  of  regret,  that  King  had  not  been  taken  too.  A 
removal  of  only  a  hundred  yards  is  sometimes  so  beneficial 
that  it  ought  in  severe  cases  never  to  be  omitted. 

We  were  fairly  on  the  march  on  the  19th  August  The 
island  Motola,  at  which  the  boat  had  been  hung,  was  soon 
reached.  Two  men,  who  had  taken  refuge  on  the  island, 
were  walking  along  one  of  the  paths  which  wound  among 
the  trees  and  bushes.  The  noise  of  the  Cataract^  on  the 
other  side  of  their  island  home,  prevented  them  from  hear- 
ing the  sound  of  our  footsteps  till  we  were  within  a  yard  of 
them.  A  start — and  the  bundles  of  roots  they  were  carrying 
fell  to  the  ground,  and  they  made  oflf  as  if  to  jump  into  the 
river;  but  we  stopped  beside  the  roots,  and  called  them  to 
come  back  and  take  their  food.  They  thought  that  we  were 
Ajawa,  but  a  glance  assured  them  to  the  contrary,  and  we 
were  gratified  to  see,  in  their  look  of  confidence  when  told 
who  we  were,  the  wide-spread  influence  of  the  English  name. 
The  roots  were  about  the  size  of  common  turnips,  and  called 
Malapa.  The  natives  said  that  a  person  who  did  not  know 
how  to  cook  them  would  kill  himself  by  using  them  as  food. 
This  is  probable ;  for  it  is  necessary  to  boil  them  in  a  strong 
ley  of  woodashes,  pour  that  away,  and  boil  them  in  the  same 
kind  of  mixture  a  second  and  third  time  before  they  are  eat- 
able. The  tamarinds  of  this  country  were  now  ripe,  and  the 
people  were  collecting  them  and  neutralizing  their  excessive 
acidity  by  boiling  the  pods  with  the  6whes  of  the  lignum- 
\it8d  tree,  which  are  beautifully  white,  and  sometimes  cake 
as  if  they  contained  a  large  amount  of  alkali ;  the  same  ashes 
are  used  too  as  a  whitewash.  When  we  came  upon  men  like 
these  poor  fugitives,  they  were  employed  to  carry  our  luggage, 
and  were  paid  for  their  labour.  This  seemed  to  inspire  more 
confidence  than  giving  a  present  would  have  done. 

2  I  2 


484  NEW  COURSE  OF  MARCH.  Chap.  XXIV. 

Our  object  now  was  to  get  away  to  the  N.N.W., 
proceed  parallel  with  Lake  Nyassa,  bat  at  a  considerable 
distance  west  of  it,  and  thus  pass  by  the  Mazitu  or  Zulus 
near  its  northern  end  without  contact — ascertain  whether  any 
large  river  flowed  into  the  Lake  from  the  west — visit  Lake 
Moelo,  if  time  permitted,  and  collect  information  about  the 
trade  on  the  great  slave  route,  wliich  crosses  the  Lake  at 
its  southern  end,  and  at  Tsenga  and  Eota-kota.  The 
Makololo  were  eager  to  travel  fast,  because  they  wanted 
to  be  back  in  time  to  hoe  their  fields  before  the  rains, 
and  also  because  their  wives  needed  looking  after.  Lideed 
Masiko  had  already  been  obliged  to  go  back  and  settle 
some  difference,  of  which  a  report  was  brought  by  other 
wives  who  followed  their  husbands  about  twenty  miles 
with  goodly  supplies  of  beer  and  meal.  Masiko  went  off 
in  a  fury;  nothing  less  than  burning  the  offenders'  houses 
would  satisfy  him;  but  a  joke  about  the  inevitable  fate  of 
polygamists,  and  our  inability  to  manage  more  than  one 
wife,  and  sometimes  not  even  her,  with  a  walk  of  a  good 
many  miles  in  the  hot  sun,  mollified  him  so  much,  that  a 
week  afterwards  he  followed  and  caught  us  up  without  having 
used  any  weapon  more  dangerous  than  his  tongue. 

Li  going  in  the  first  instance  N.E.  from  the  uppermost 
Cataract,  we  followed  in  a  measure  the  great  bend  of  the  river 
towards  the  foot  of  Mount  Zomba.  Here  we  had  a  view  of 
its  most  imposing  side,  the  west,  with  the  plateau  some  3000 
feet  high,  stretching  away  to  its  south,  and  Mounts  Chirad- 
zuru  and  Mochiru  towering  aloft  to  the  sky.  From  that 
goodly  highland  station,  it  was  once  hoped  by  the  noble 
Mackenzie,  who,  for  largeness  of  heart  and  loving  disposition, 
really  deserved  to  be  called  the  "  Bishop  of  Central  Africa," 
til  at  light  and  liberty  would  spread  to  all  the  interior. 
We  still  think  it  may  be  a  centre  for  civilizing  influences; 


Chap.  XXTV.         WE  PASS  MANY  SKELETONS.  485 

for  any  one  descending  from  these  cool  heights,  and  stepping 
into  a  boat  on  the  Upper  Shire,  can  sail  three  hundred  miles 
without  a  check  into  the  heart  of  Africa. 

We  passed  through  a  tract  of  country  covered  with 
mopane  trees,  where  the  hard  baked  soil  refused  to  let 
the  usual  thick  crops  of  grass  grow;  and  here  we  came 
upon  very  many  tracks  of  buffaloes,  elephants,  antelopes, 
and  the  spoor  of  one  lion.  An  ox  we  drove  along  with  us, 
as  provision  for  the  way,  was  sorely  bitten  by  the  tsetse. 
The  effect  of  the  bite  was,  as  usual,  quite  apparent  two 
days  afterwards,  in  the  general  flaccidity  of  the  muscles, 
the  drooping  ears,  and  looks  of  illness.  It  always  excited 
our  wonder  that  we,  who  were  frequently  much  bitten  too 
by  the  same  insects,  felt  no  harm  from  their  attacks.  Man 
shares  the  immunity  of  the  wild  animals. 

Though  this  was  the  dry,  or  rather  hot  season,  many 
flowers  were  in  blossom  along  our  path.  The  euphorbia, 
baobab,  and  caparidaceous  trees  were  in  full  bloom.  A 
number  of  large  hornbills  attracted  our  attention,  and 
Masiko,  approaching  the  root  of  a  tree  in  order  to  take 
sure  aim  at  the  birds,  did  not  observe  that  within  a  few 
yards  of  the  same  tree  two  elephants  stood  in  the  cool  shade 
fiLTiTiiTig  themselves  with  their  huge  ears.  Dr.  Livingstone 
jGb^  a  ball  into  the  ear  of  one  of  the  animals  at  thirty  yards 
distance,  but  he  only  went  off  shaking  his  head,  and  Masiko 
for  the  first  time  perceived  his  danger  as  the  beast  began 
to  tear  away  through  the  bush.  Many  Manganja  skeletons 
were  passed  on  entering  a  grove  of  lofty  trees,  under  whose 
deep  shade  stood  the  ruins  of  a  large  village.  Wild  animals 
had  now  taken  possession  of  what  had  lately  been  the  abodes 
of  men  living  in  peace  and  plenty. 

Finding  a  few  people  on  the  evening  of  the  20th  of  August, 
who  were  supporting  a  wretched  existence  on  tamarinds  and 


486  THE  RIVI-RIVL  Chap.  XXIV. 

mice,  we  ascertained  that  there  was  no  hope  of  cor  being 
able  to  buy  food  anywhere  nearer  than  the  Lakelet  Pama- 
lombe,  where  the  Ajawa  Chie^  Kainka,  was  now  living ;  but 
that  plenty  could  be  found  with  the  Maravi  female  Chief, 
Nyango.  We  turned  away  north-westwards,  and  struck  the 
stream  Bibve-ribye,  or  Bivi-riyi,  which  rises  in  the  llaiayi 
range,  and  flows  into  the  Shire.  Here,  except  below  its 
sandy  bed,  the  channel  was  without  any  water,  but  higher 
up  it  has  pools  at  intervals  with  dry  spaces  between,  and 
still  farther  west  it  becomes  a  fast-flowing  stream,  forty 
feet  wide,  and  one  or  two  feet  deep.  Its  name  implies  that 
it  has  Cataracts  in  it,  and  the  sanjika  ascends  it  to  spawn ; 
but  the  evaporation  is  so  great  in  the  hot  season,  that  be- 
fore it  reaches  the  Shire  it  is  quite  dry. 

The  country  here  has  been  divided  into  districts,  that  on 
the  south  of  the  Eivi-rivi  is  called  Nkwesi,  and  that  on  the 
north,  Banda ;  and  these  extend  along  the  boundary  stzeam 
from  its  source  to  its  confluence.  This  is  interesting,  as  indi- 
cating an  appreciation  of  the  value  of  land.  In  many  parts 
the  idea  has  not  taken  root,  and  any  one  may  make  a  garden 
wherever  he  pleases.  The  garden  becomes  property,  the  un- 
cultivated land  no  one  claims.  The  villages,  of  the  number 
of  which  we  never  previously  had  the  smallest  idea,  firom 
our  route  having  been  along  the  river,  seem  always  to  have 
been  selected  with  a  view  to  shade — they  were  now  all  de- 
serted. The  lofty  sterculias,  with  trunks  of  fifty  feet  without 
a  branch,  of  a  yellowish-green,  stand  around,  and  many  of 
the  huts  have  been  overshadowed  by  wide-spreading  wild 
fig-trees,  on  which  the  elephants  now  feed  undisturbed.  The 
ground  was  strewn  with  branches  which  they  had  broken  c^. 
One  species  of  sterculia  has  roundish  pods  the  size  of  one's 
fist,  with  seeds  covered  with  canary-coloured  pidp  which 
yields  abundance  of  fine  oiL    The  motsikiri-trees  have  also 


Chap.  XXIV.  DESERTED  VILLAGK  487 

been  preserred  for  the  sake  of  the  fat  and  oil  which  may  be 
obtained  &om  their  seeds. 

As  the  Rivi-rivi  came  from  the  N.W.  we  continned  to 
tatkvel  along  its  banks,  nntil  we  came  to  people  who  had 
snccessMIy  defended  themselves  against  the  hordes  of  the 
Ajawa.  By  employing  the  men  of  one  village  to  go  for- 
ward and  explain  who  we  were  to  the  next,  we  managed 
to  prevent  the  frightened  inhabitants  from  considering  ns 
a  fresh  party  of  Ajawa,  or  of  Portuguese  slaving  agents. 
Here  they  had  cultivated  maize,  and  were  willing  to  sell, 
but  no  persuasion  could  induce  them  to  give  us  guides  to 
the  Chieftainess,  Nyango.  They  evidently  felt  that  we  were 
not  to  be  trusted ;  though,  as  we  had  to  certify  to  our  own 
character,  our  companions  did  not  fail  "to  blow  oiur  own 
trampet^"  with  blasts  in  which  modesty  was  quite  out  of 
the  question.  To  allay  suspicion  we  had  at  last  to  re- 
frain from  mentioning  the  lady's  name. 

It  would  be  wearisome  to  repeat  the  names  of  the  villages 
we  passed  on  our  way  to  the  north-west  One  was  the  largest 
we  ever  saw  in  Africa,  and  quite  deserted,  with  the  usual 
sad  sight  of  many  skeletons  lying  about.  Another  was  called 
Tette.  We  know  three  places  of  this  name,  which  fact  shows 
it  to  be  a  native  word ;  it  seems  to  mean  a  place  where 
the  water  rushes  over  rocks.  A  third  village  was  called 
Chipanga  (a  great  work),  a  name  identical  with  the  Shu- 
panga  of  the  Portuguese.  This  repetition  of  names  may 
indicate  that  the  same  people  first  took  these  epithets  in 
their  traditional  passage  from  north  to  south.  The  country 
generally  was  covered  with  open  forest  of  moderate  growth, 
and  very  large  trees  fringed  the  watercourses.  One,  a  %- 
tree  with  a  peculiar  leaf,  had  been  struck  by  lightning.  On 
the  lines  which  the  electric  fluid  had  made  in  streaming 
down  its  trunk,  masses  of  new  growth  were  shooting  out  to 


488  WE  LOSE  OUR  WAY.  Chap.  XXIV* 

repair  the  damage,  and  a  great  deal  of  gum,  of  a  kind  never 
observed  before  by  us  on  any  tree,  had  exuded.  Beyond  the 
village  of  Tette,  the  scourge  of  slave  war  had  not  passed 
westward;  and  now,  when  we  came  to  human  dwellings, 
the  people  welcomed  us  in  words,  the  fuU  meaning  of  which 
we,  whose  happy  country  has  never  suffered  from  an  inva- 
sion, can  scarcely  realize,  '^  We  are  glad  that  it  is  not  war 
you  bring,  but  peace." 

At  this  season  of  the  year  the  nights  are  still  cold,  and  the 
people  having  no  crops  to  occupy  their  attention  do  not  stir 
out  till  long  after  the  sun  is  up.  At  other  times  they  are 
off  to  their  fields  before  the  day  dawns,  and  the  first  sound 
one  hears  is  the  loud  talking  of  men  and  women,  in  which 
they  usually  indulge  in  the  dark  to  scare  off  beasts  by 
the  sound  of  the  human  voice.  When  no  work  is  to  be  dcme, 
the  first  warning  of  approaching  day  is  the  hempsmoker's 
loud  ringing  cou^h. 

Having  been  delayed  one  morning  by  some  negotiation 
about  guides,  who  were  used  chiefly  to  introduce  us  to  other 
villages,  we  two  whites  walked  a  little  way  ahead,  taking  the 
direction  of  the  stream.  The  men  having  been  always  able 
to  find  out  our  route  by  the  prints  of  our  shoes,  we  went 
on  for  a  number  of  miles.  This  time,  however^  they  lost  our 
track  and  failed  to  follow  us.  The  path  was  well  marked 
by  elephants,  hyenas,  pallahs,  and  zebras,  but  for  many  a 
day  no  human  foot  had  trod  it  When  the  sun  went  down 
a  deserted  hamlet  was  reached,  where  we  made  comfortable 
beds  for  ourselves  of  grass.  Firing  muskets  to  attract  the 
attention  of  those  who  have  strayed  is  the  usual  resource 
in  these  cases.  On  this  occasion  the  sound  of  firearms 
tended  to  mislead  us;  for,  hearing  shots  next  morning; 
a  long  weary  march  led  us  only  to  some  native  hunters, 
who  had  been  shooting  buffaloes.     Betuming  to  a  small 


Chap.  XXIV.      HOSPITALITY  OP  THE  PEOPLE.  489 

village  we  met  with  some  people  who  remembered  our 
passing  up  to  the  Lake  in  the  boat ;  they  were  as  kind  as 
they  could  be.  The  only  food  they  possessed  was  tama- 
rinds,  prepared  with  ashes,  and  a  little  cowitch  meaL  The 
cowitch,  as  mentioned  before,  has  a  velvety  brown  cover- 
ing of  minute  prickles,  which,  if  touched,  enter  the  pores  of 
the  skin  and  cause  a  painful  tingling.  The  women  in 
times  of  scarcity  collect  the  pods,  kindle  a  fire  of  grass 
over  them  to  destroy  the  prickles,  then  steep  the  beans 
till  they  begin  to  sprout,  wash  them  in  pure  water,  and 
either  boil  them  or  pound  them  into  meal,  which  resembles 
our  bean-meal.  This  plant  climbs  up  the  long  grass,  and 
abounds  in  all  reedy  parts,  and,  though  a  plague  to  the 
traveller  who  touches  its  pods,  it  performs  good  service  in 
times  of  famine  by  saving  many  a  life  from  starvation.  Its 
name  here  is  EitedzL 

Having  travelled  at  least  twenty  miles  in  search  of  our 
party  that  day,  our  rest  on  a  mat  in  the  best  hut  of  the 
village  was  very  sweet  We  had  dined  the  evening  before 
on  a  pigeon  each,  and  had  eaten  only  a  handful  of  kitedzi 
porridge  this  afternoon.  The  good  wife  of  the  village  took 
a  little  com  which  she  had  kept  for  seed,  ground  it  after 
dark,  and  made  it  into  porridge,  this,  and  a  cup  of  wild 
vegetables  of  a  sweetish  taste  for  a  relish,  a  little  boy  brought 
in  and  put  down,  with  several  vigorous  claps  of  his  hands, 
in  the  manner  which  is  esteemed  polite,  and  which  is  strictly 
enjoined  on  all  children.  The  repast  was  so  scanty  that  even 
the  smaller  of  the  two  starvelings,  who  was  awake,  thought 
that  it  was  all  for  him,  and  set  to  work  at  once,  while  his 
fellow-sufferer,  overcome  with  sleep,  had  just  commenced  a 
pleasimt  dream  of  being  at  a  grand  feast.  Awaking  just  in 
time  to  save  a  mere  fragment  of  the  tiny  meal,  he  was  amused 
to  hear  the  excuses  offered  by  the  ruthless  devourer,  which, 


490  LEAVE  CHASUNDU.  Chap.  XXIV. 

from  feeling  the  same  crayings  of  appetite,  his  companion 
perfectly  understood 

On  the  third  day  of  separation,  Alcosanjere,  the  headman 
of  this  village,  conducted  us  forward  to  our  party  who  had 
gone  on  to  Nseze,  a  district  to  the  westward*  This  incident 
is  mentioned,  not  for  any  interest  it  possesses,  apart  from  the 
idea  of  the  people  it  conveys.  We  were  completely  separated 
from  our  men  for  nearly  three  days,  and  had  nothing  where- 
with to  purchase  food.  The  people  were  sorely  pressed  by 
fjEimine  and  war,  and  their  hospitality,  poor  as  it  was,  did 
them  great  credit,  and  was  most  grateful  to  ns.  Our  own 
men  had  become  confused  and  wandered,  but  had  done  their 
utmost  to  find  us ;  on  our  rejoining  them,  the  ox  was  slain, 
and  all,  having  been  on  short  commons,  rejoiced  in  this  ^  day 
of  slaughter."  Akosanjere  was,  of  course,  rewarded  to  his 
heart's  content. 

On  the  26th  August  we  left  the  village  of  Chasundu,  where 
the  party  had  reunited,  and  crossed  several  running  streams 
of  fine  cold  water.  We  had  now  attained  a  considerable 
altitude,  as  was  evident  from  the  change  in  the  vegetation  ;— 
the  masuko-tree,  with  its  large  hard  leaves,  never  met  with 
in  the  lowlands,  was  here  covered  with  unripe  fruit, — fine 
rhododendrons, — ^the  trees  {Ccesalpmece),  with  pinnated  leaves, 
from  which  bark  doth  is  made, — the  molompi  (Pteroearjm), 
which,  when  wounded,  exudes  large  quantities  of  a  red  juice 
so  astringent  that  it  might  answer  the  purposes  of  kino,  and 
furnishes  a  wood,  as  elastic  and  light  as  ash,  from  which  the 
native  paddles  are  made.  These  trees,  with  everlastmg 
flowers  shaped  like  daisies,  and  ferns,  betokened  an  elevated 
habitat,  and  the  boiling-point  of  water  showed  that  our 
altitude  was  2500  feet  above  the  sea. 

As  we  pursued  our  way,  we  came  dose  up  to  a  range  of 
mountains,  the  most  prominent  peak  of  which  is  called  Mvai. 


Chap.  XXIV.  KIRK'S  RANGE.  491 

This  is  a  great,  bare,  rounded  block  of  granite  shooting  up 
from  the  rest  of  the  chain.  It  and  several  other  masses  of 
rock  are  of  a  light  grey  colour,  with  white  patches,  as  if  of 
lichens ;  the  sides  and  summits  are  generally  thinly  covered 
with  rather  scraggy  trees.  There  are  several  other  pro- 
minent peaks — one,  for  instance,  still  further  north,  called 
Chirobve.  Each  has  a  name,  but  we  could  never  ascertain 
that  there  was  an  appellation  which  applied  to  the  whole. 
This  fact,  and  our  wish  to  commemorate  the  name  of  Dr. 
Kirk,  induced  us  afterwards,  when  we  could  not  discover  a 
particular  peak  mentioned  to  us  formerly  as  Molomo-ao^ 
koku,  or  Cock's-bill,  to  call  the  whole  chain  from  the  west  of 
the  Cataracts  up  to  the  north  end  of  the  Lake, "  Kirk's  Range.** 
The  part  we  slept  at  opposite  Mvai  was  named  Faudio,  and 
was  evidently  a  continuation  of  the  district  of  one  of  our 
stations  on  the  Shire,  at  which  observations  for  latitude  were 
formerly  taken. 

Leaving  Faudio,  we  had  Kirk's  Eange  close  on  our  left 
and  at  least  8000  feet  above  us,  and  probably  not  less  than 
5000  feet  above  the  sea.  Far  to  our  right  extended  a 
long  green  wooded  country  rising  gradually  up  to  a  ridge, 
ornamented  with  several  detached  mountains,  which  bounded 
the  Shire  Valley.  Li  front,  northwards,  lay  a  valley  as  rich 
and  lovely  as  we  ever  saw  anywhere,  terminating  at  the 
mountains,  which,  stretched  away  some  thirty  miles  beyond 
owe  range  of  vision  and  ended  at  Cape  Maclear.  The 
groups  of  trees  had  never  been  subjected  to  the  landscape 
gardener's  art ;  but  had  been  cut  down  mercilessly,  just  as 
suited  the  convenience  of  the  cultivator ;  yet  the  various 
combinations  of  open  forest,  sloping  woodland,  grassy  lawns, 
and  massive  clumps  of  dark  green  foliage  along  the  running 
streams,  formed  as  beautiM  a  landscape  as  could  be  seen 
on  the  Thames.    This  valley  is  named  Goa  or  Gova,  and  as 


492  VALLEY  OF  GOVA.  Chap.  XXIV. 

we  moved  through  it  we  found  that  what  was  smooth  to  the 
eye  was  very  much  furrowed  by  running  streams  winding 
round  innumerable  knolls.  These  little  brooklets  came 
down  from  the  range  on  our  left,  and  the  water  was  deli- 
ciously  cooL 

Grova  had  been  invaded  by  the  Ajawa  under  Eainka,  now 
living  at  the  lakelet  Famalombe,  and  a  party  of  Babisa, 
both  eager  slave-traders.  The  consequence  of  this  visita- 
tion was,  that^  in  the  spots  where  women  had  ventured  back 
to  their  former  gardens,  our  appearance  was  the  signal  for 
ibstant  flight  A  very  large  portion  of  the  land  had  once 
been  under  cultivation,  but  it  was  now  abandoned  to  buffaloes 
and  elephants*  The  deep  dark  euphorbia  hedges  stood 
round  the  hamlets,  and  shady  trees  cast  a  grateful  coolness 
over  the  smooth  Boalo,  where  basket-making,  spinning,  and 
weaving,  or  dancing,  drinking,  and  gossip  formerly  went  on. 
Everything  was  beautiful  to  the  eye ;  but  no  people  could 
be  seen — except  here  and  there  a  few  dejected-looking 
men.  No  food  could  be  bought,  and  but  a  miserably  small 
present  of  wild  fruits  was  brought  as  the  accustomed  offering 
to  strangers.  We,  therefore,  tried  to  induce  some  of  the 
villagers  we  fell  in  with  to  take  us  over  the  range  on  our 
left;  but,  though  we  knew  that  the  Maravi  lived  on  its 
western  side,  they  stoutly  maintained  that  there  were  none 
within  two  days  of  it  Several  of  the  mountain-sides  in 
this  country  are  remarkably  steep,  and  the  loose  blocks 
on  them  sharp  and  angular,  without  a  trace  of  weathering. 
For  a  time  we  considered  the  angularity  of  the  loose  frag- 
ments as  evidence  that  the  continent  was  of  comparatively 
recent  formation,  but  we  afterwards  heard  the  operation  ac- 
tually going  on,  by  which  the  boulders  are  split  into  these 
sharp  fragment^.  The  rocks  are  heated  by  the  torrid  sun 
during  the  day  to  such  an  extent  that  one  is  sometimes 


Chap.  XXIV.        ROCKS  AFFECTED  BY  HEAT.  493 

startled  on  sitting  down  on  them  after  dusk  to  find  them 
quite  too  hot  for  the  flesh,  protected  by  only  thin  trousers, 
to  bear.  The  thermometer  placed  on  them  rises  to  137°  in 
the  smL  These  heated  surfaces,  cooling  from  without  by 
the  evening  air,  contract  more  externally  than  within,  and 
the  unyielding  interior  forces  off  the  outer  parts,  to  a 
distance  of  one  or  two  feet  Let  any  one  in  a  rocky  place 
obserre  the  fragments  that  have  been  thus  shot  off,  and 
he  will  find  in  the  vicinity  pieces  from  a  few  ounces 
to  one  or  two  hundred  pounds  in  weight,  which  exactly  fi 
the  new  surface  of  the  original  block ;  and  he  may  hear  in 
the  evenings  among  the  hills,  where  sound  travels  readily^ 
the  ringing  echo  of  the  report,  which  the  natives  ascribe  to 
Mchesi  or  evil  spirits,  and  the  more  enlightened  to  these 
natural  causes. 

It  would  have  been  no  great  feat  to  have  scaled  these 
mountains  without  any  path  to  guide  us ;  but  we  could  not 
afford  to  waste  the  time  necessary  for  a  prolonged  ascent. 
Our  provisions  were  nearly  expended,  so  we  pushed  onward 
to  the  north,  in  hopes  of  finding  what  we  needed  there. 

We  afterwards  discovered  that  the  poor  people  had  good 
reason  for  not  leading  strangers,  of  whom  they  knew  nothing, 
to  the  stores  of  corn  which,  after  the  invasion,  they  had  been 
fain  to  hide  amongst  the  crags  of  the  hills. 

When  we  came  abreast  of  the  peak  Chirobve,  the  people 
would  no  longer  give  us  guides.  They  were  afraid  of  their 
enemies,  whose  dwellings  we  now  had  on  our  east;  and, 
proceeding  without  any  one  to  lead  us,  or  to  introduce  us 
to  the  inhabitants,  we  were  perplexed  by  all  the  paths 
running  zigzag  across  instead  of  along  the  valley.  They 
had  been  made  by  the  villagers  going  from  the 
hamlets  on  the  slopes  to  their  gardens  in  the  meadows 
below.      To    add    to    our    difficulties,    the    rivulets    and 


494       WE  ARE  VIEWED  AS  SLAVE-HUNTEHa    Chap.  XXIV. 

mountain-torrents  had  worn  gullies  some  thirty  or  forty 
feet  deep,  with  steep  sides  that  could  not  be  climbed  except 
at  certain  points.  The  remaining  inhabitants  on  the  flank 
of  the  range  when  they  saw  strangers  winding  from  side  to 
side,  and  often  attempting  to  cross  these  torrent  beds  at 
impossible  places,  screamed  out  their  shrill  war-alarm,  trnd 
made  the  valley  ring  with  their  wild  outcries.  It  was 
war,  and  war  alone,  and  we  were  too  deep  down  in  the 
valley  to  make  our  voices  heard  in  explanation.  For- 
tunately, they  had  burned  off  the  long  grass  to  a  great 
extent  It  only  here  and  there  hid  them  from  us.  Selectr 
ing  an  open  spot,  we  spent  a  night  regarded  by  all  around 
us  as  slave-hunters,  but  were  undisturbed,  though  the  usual 
way  of  treating  an  enemy  in  this  part  of  the  country  is  by 
night  attack. 

The  nights  at  the  altitude  of  the  valley  were  cool, 
the  lowest  temperature  shown  being  37°;  at  9  am.  and 
9  P.M.  it  was  58°,  about  the  average  temperature  of  the  day ; 
at  midday  82°,  and  sunset  70°.  Our  march  was  very  much 
hindered  by  the  imperfectly  burned  com  and  grass  stalks 
having  &llen  across  the  paths.  To  a  reader  in  England 
this  will  seem  a  very  small  obstacle.  But  he  must  fSemcy 
the  grass  stems  as  thick  as  his  little  finger,  and  the  corn- 
stalks like  so  many  waHdngsticks  lying  in  one  direction, 
and  so  supporting  each  other  that  one  has  to  lift  his  feet 
up  as  when  wading  through  deep  high  heather.  The 
stems  of  grass  showed  the  causes  of  certain  explosions  as 
loud  as  pistols,  which  are  heard  when  the  annual  fires  ccHne 
roaring  over  the  land.  The  heated  air  inside  expanding 
bursts  the  stalk  with  a  loud  report^  and  strews  the  fragments 
on  the  ground. 

A  very  great  deal  of  native  com  had  been  cultivated 
here,  and  we  saw  bufiTaloes  feeding  in  the  deserted  gardens, 


Chap.  XXIV.  HEEL  OF  LAKE  NYASSA.  495 

and  some  women,  who  ran  away  yery  much  faster  than  the 
beasts  did. 

On  the  29th,  seeing  some  people  standing  under  a  tree 
by  a  village,  we  sat  down,  and  sent  Masego,  one  of  our 
party,  to  communicate.  The  headman,  Matunda,  came  back 
with  him,  bearing  a  calabash  with  water  for  us.  He  said 
that  all  the  people  had  fled  from  the  Ajawa,  who  had  only 
just  desisted  from  their  career  of  pillage  on  being  paid 
flye  persons  as  a  fine  for  some  offence  for  which  they  had 
commenced  the  invasion.  Matunda  had  plenty  of  grain 
to  sell,  and  aU  the  women  were  soon  at  work  grinding 
it  into  meaL  We  secured  an  abundant  supply,  and  four 
milk  goats.  The  Manganja  goat  is  of  a  very  superior  breed 
to  the  general  African  animal,  being  short  in  the  legs 
and  having  a  finely-shaped  broad  body.  By  promising  the 
Makololo  that,  when  we  no  longer  needed  the  milk,  they 
should  have  the  goats  to  improve  the  breed  of  their  own  at 
home,  they  were  induced  to  take  the  greatest  possible  care  of 
both  goats  and  kids  in  driving  and  pasturing. 

After  leaving  Matunda,  we  came  to  the  end  of  the  highland 
valley ;  and,  before  descending  a  steep  declivity  of  a  thousand 
feet  towards  the  part  which  may  be  called  the  heel  of  the 
Lake,  we  had  the  bold  mountains  of  Gape  Maclear  on  our 
right,  with  the  blue  water  at  their  base,  the  hills  of 
Tsenga  in  the  distance  in  front,  and  Kirk's  Kange  on  our 
left,  stretching  away  northwards,  and  apparently  becoming 
lower.  As  we  came  down  into  a  fine  rich  undulating  valley, 
many  perennial  streams  running  to  the  east  from  the  hills 
on  our  left  were  crossed,  while  aU  those  behind  us  on  the 
higher  ground  seemed  to  unite  in  one  named  Lekiie,  which 
flowed  into  the  Lake. 

After  a  long  day's  march  in  the  valley  of  the  Lake, 
where  the  temperature  was  very  much  higher  than  in  that 


496  KATOSA'S  VILLAGE.  Chap.  XXIV. 

we  had  just  left^  we  entered  the  village  of  £atosa,  which  is 
situated  on  the  bank  of  a  stream  among  gigantic  timber 
trees,  and  found  there  a  large  party  of  Ajawa — ^Waiau, 
they  called  themselves — all  armed  with  muskets.  We  sat 
down  among  them,  and  were  soon  called  to  the  Chiefs 
court,  and  present^  with  an  ample  mess  of  porridge,  buffalo 
meat,  and  beer.  Katosa  was  more  frank  than  any  Manganja 
Chief  we  had  met,  and  complimented  us  by  saying  that  "  we 
must  be  his  ^  Bazimo  *  (good  spirits  of  his  ancestors) ;  for  when 
he  lived  at  Pamalombe,  we  lighted  upon  him  fix)m  above — 
men  the  like  of  whom  he  had  never  seen  before,  and  coming 
he  knew  not  whence."  He  gave  us  one  of  his  own  large  and 
clean  huts  to  sleep  in;  and  we  may  take  this  opportunity  of 
saying  that  the  impression  we  received,  from  our  first  journey 
on  the  hills  among  the  villages  of  Ohisunse,  of  the  excessive 
dirtiness  of  the  Manganja  was  erroneous.  This  trait  was  con- 
fined to  the  cool  highlands.  Here  crowds  of  men  and 
women  were  observed  to  perform  their  ablutions  daily  in  the 
stream  that  ran  past  their  villages ;  and  this  we  have  observed 
elsewhere  to  be  a  common  custom  with  both  Manganja  and 
Ajawa. 

Before  we  started  on  the  morning  of  the  1st  September, 
Katosa  sent  an  enormous  calabash  of  beer,  containing  at 
least  three  gallons,  and  then  came  and  wished  us  to  '^  stop 
a  day  and  eat  with  him."  On  explaining  to  him  the  reasons 
for  our  haste,  he  said  that  he  was  in  the  way  by  which 
travellers  usually  passed,  he  never  stopped  them  in  their 
journeys,  but  would  like  to  look  at  us  for  a  day.  On  our 
promising  to  rest  a  little  with  him  on  our  return,  he  gave 
us  about  two  pecks  of  rice,  and  three  guides  to  conduct  us  to 
a  subordinate  female  Chief,  Nkwinda,  living  on  the  borders 
of  the  Lake  in  front 

The  Ajawa,  from  having  taken  slaves  down  to  Quillimane 


Chap.  XXIV.  AJAWA  MIGRATION,  497 

and  Mosambique,  knew  more  of  us  than  Katosa  did.  Their 
muskets  were  carefufly  polished,  and  never  out  of  these 
slayeiB'  hands  for  a  moment,  though  in  the  Chiefs  presence. 
We  naturally  felt  apprehensive  that  we  should  never  see 
Katosa  again.  A  migratory  afiSatus  seems  to  have  come 
over  the  Ajawa  tribes.  Wars  among  themselves,  for  the 
supply  of  the  Coast  slave-trade,  are  said  to  have  first  set 
them  in  motion.  The  usual  way  in  which  they  have 
advanced  among  the  Manganja  has  been  by  slave-trading 
in  a  friendly  way.  Then,  professing  to  wish  to  live  as 
subjects,  they  have  been  welcomed  as  guestu,  and  the  Man? 
ganja,  being  great  agriculturists,  have  been  able  to  support 
considerable  bodies  of  these  visitors  for  a  time.  When  the 
provisions  became  scarce,  the  guests  began  to  steal  from  the 
fields ;  quarrels  arose  in  consequence,  and,  the  Ajawa  having 
firearms,  their  hosts  got  the  worst  of  it,  cmd  were  expelled 
from  village  after  village,  and  out  of  their  own  country. 
The  Manganja  were  quite  as  bad  in  regard  to  slave-trading 
as  the  Ajawa,  but  had  less  enterprise,  and  were  much  more 
fond  of  the  home  pursuits  of  spinning,  weaving,  smelting 
iron,  and  cultivating  the  soil,  than  of  foreign  travel.  The 
Ajawa  had  little  of  a  mechanical  turn,  and  not  much  love 
for  agriculture,  but  were  very  keen  traders  and  travellers. 
This  party  seemed  to  us  to  be  in  the  first  or  friendly  stage 
of  intercourse  with  Eatosa ;  and,  as  we  afterwards  found,  he 
was  ftdly  alive  to  the  danger. 

Our  course  was  shaped  towards  the  N. W.,  and  we  traversed 
a  large  fertile  tract  of  rich  soil  extensively  cultivated,  but 
dotted  with  many  gigantic  Ihomy  acacias  which  had  proved 
too  large  for  the  little  axes  of  the  cultivators.  After  leav- 
ing Nkwinda,  the  first  village  we  spent  a  night  at  in  the 
district  Ngabi  was  that  of  Ghembi,  and  it  had  a  stockade 
around  it     The  Azitu  or  Mazitu  were  said  to  be  ravaging 

2  K 


498  NATIVB  AGRICULTURE.  Chap.  XXIV. 

the  country  to  the  west  of  us,  and  no  one  was  safe  except 
in  a  stockade.  We  have  so  often,  in  trayelling,  heard  of 
war  in  fronts  that  we  paid  little  attention  to  the  assertion 
of  Chembi,  that  the  whole  country  to  the  N.W.  was  in 
flight  before  these  Masdtu,  under  a  CMei  with  the  rather 
formidable  name  of  Mowhiri whirl ;  we  therefore  resolved  to  go 
on  to  Ghinsamba's,  still  farther  in  the  same  direction^  and 
hear  what  he  said  about  it. 

In  marching  across  the  same  kind  of  fertile  j^ains,  there 

was  little  to  interest  the  mind.    The  air  was  very  sultry,  for 

this  is  the  "  hot  season  "  of  the  year.    A  thick  haze  restricted 

our  view  on  all  sides  to  a  few  miles.    The  blazing  glare  of 

the  torrid  sun  on  this  haze  gives  to  one,  accustomed  to  mists 

elsewhere,  the  impression  of  being  enveloped  in  a  hot  tog. 

The  cultivation  was  very  extensive  and  naturally  drew  our 

thoughts  to  the  agriculture  of  the  Africans.     On  one  part  of 

this  plain  the  people  had  fields  of   maize,  the  plants  of 

which'  towered  far  over  our  heada    A  succession  of  holes 

three  feet  deep  and  four  wide  had  been  made  in  a  sandy 

dell,  through  which  flowed  a  perennial  stream.     The  maize 

sown  in  the  bottom  of  these  holes  had  the  benefit  of  the 

moisture,  which  percolated  from  the  stream  through  the 

sand;  and  the  result  was  a  flourishing  crop  at  a  time  of 

year  when  all  the  rest  of  the  country  was  parched  and 

dusty.    On  our  counting  the  grains  in  one  large  cob  or  ear 

of  maize,  it  was  found  to  contain  360,  and  as  one  stalk  has 

at  times  two  or  three  cobs,  it  may  be  said  to  yield  three 

or  four  hundred-fold. 

While  advantage  is  taken  of  the  moist  stratum  in  these 
holes  during  the  dry  season,  grain,  beans,  and  pumpkins, 
which  are  cultivated  only  in  the  rainy  time  of  the  yew,  are 
planted  on  ridges  a  foot  high,  allowing  the  superabundant 
moisture  to  run  ofi.     Another  way  in  which  the  natives 


Chap.  XXIV,  FEMALES  HOEIXG.  49!) 

show  their  Bkill  in  agriculture  is  ^yy  coUectiog  all  tlie  weeds 
and  grass  into  heaps,  coTering  them  with  soil  and  then  set- 
ting fire  to  them.  They  hum  slowly,  and  all  the  ashes  and 
much  of  the  smoke  is  retained  in  the  overlying  soil.  The 
mounds  thus  formed,  when  sown  upon,  yield  abundantly.  The 
only  instrument  of  hushandry  here  is  the  short^haudled  hoe ; 
and  about  Tette  the  labour  of  tilling  the  soil,  as  represented 
in  the  woodcut,  is  performed  entirely  by  female  slaves.     On 


the  West  Coast  a  double-handled  hoe  is  employed.  Here 
Ihe  small  hoe  is  seen  in  the  hands  of  both  men  and  women. 
In  other  parts  of  Africa  a  hoe  with  a  handle  four  feet  long  is 
used,  hut  the  plough  is  quite  unknown. 

In  illustmtion  of  the  manner  in  which  the  native  know- 
ledge of  agriculture  strikes  an  honest  intelligent  observer,  it 
may  be  mentioned  that  tlie  first  time  good  Bishop  Mackenzie 
beheld  how  well  the  fields  of  the  Maiigonja  were  cultivated 
2  E  2 


500  CHINSAMBA'S  STOCKADES.  Chap.  XXIY. 

on  the  hills,  he  remarked  to  Dr,  Liviugstone,  then  his  fellow- 
traveller — "  When  telling  the  people  in  England  what  were 
my  objects  in  going  ont  to  Africa,  I  stated  that,  among  other 
things,  I  meant  to  teach  these  people  agricnltnre ;  bnt  I 
now  see  that  they  know  far  more  about  it  than  I  do."  This, 
we  take  it,  was  an  honest  straightforward  testimony,  and  we 
believe  that  every  unprejudiced  witness,  who  has  an  oppor- 
tunity of  forming  an  opinion  of  Africans  who  have  never 
been  debased  by  slavery,  will  rank  them  very  much  higher 
in  the  scale  of  intelligence,  industry,  and  manhood,  thaa 
others  who  know  them  only  in  a  state  of  degradation. 

In  two  days'  march  we  counted  twenty-four  cotton 
patches,  each  at  least  one-fourth  of  an  acre  in  extent.  One 
was  240  paces  broad.  All,  as  before  observed,  had  been 
kept  so  clear  of  weeds,  that  the  fires  passed  by  the  cotton 
bushes  in  the  regular  grass-burnings  witliout  touching  them. 

Men  and  women  were  seen  carrying  their  grain  firom  Til- 
lages towards  the  stockades ;  much  com  strewed  along  the  path 
evinced  the  haste  with  which  it  had  been  borne  to  the  places 
of  safety.  Some  were  cutting  down  the  large  old  euphorbia- 
trees  and  an  umbelliferous  tree,  which  snmnrnded  the  vil- 
lage45^  in  order  that  a  clear  view  of  the  approach  of  the 
enemy  might  be  obtained.  Then  one  dead  body  lay  in  our 
path  with  a  wound  in  the  back ;  then  another,  and  another, 
lyuig  in  the  postures  assumed  in  mortal  agony,  which  no 
painter  can  reproduce.  On  coming  near  Chinsamba's  two 
stockades,  on  the  banks  of  the  Lintipe,  we  were  told  that  the 
Mazitu  had  been  repulsed  there  the  day  before,  and  we  had 
evidence  of  the  truth  of  the  report  of  the  attack  in  the  sad 
sight  of  the  bodies  of  the  slain.  Tlie  Zulus  had  taken  off 
large  numbers  of  women  laden  with  com ;  and,  when  driven 
back,  had  cut  off  the  ears  of  a  male  prisoner,  as  a  sort  of 
credential  that  he  had  been  with  the  Mazitu,  and  with  grim 


Chap.  XXIV.  THE  NEGRO  TYPE.  501 

humour  sent  him  to  tell  Chinsamba  "to  take  good  care 
of  the  com  in  the  stockades,  for  they  meant  to  return  for 
it  in  a  month  or  two." 

Chinsamba's  people  were  drumming  with  might  and  main 
on  our  arrival,  to  express  their  joy  at  their  deliverance  from 
the  Mazitu.  The  drum  is  the  chief  instrument  of  music 
among  the  Manganja,  and  with  it  they  express  both  their 
joy  and  grie£  They  excel  in  beating  time.  Chinsamba 
called  us  into  a  very  large  hut,  and  presented  us  with  a 
huge  basket  of  beer.  The  glare  of  sunlight  from  which  we 
had  come  enabled  him,  in  diplomatic  fashion,  to  have  a 
good  view  of  us  before  our  eyes  became  enough  accustomed 
to  the  dark  inside  to  see  him.  He  has  a  Jewish  cast  of 
countenance,  or  rather  the  ancient  Assyrian  face,  as  seen 
in  the  monuments  brought  to  the  British  Museum  by  Mr. 
Layard.  This  form  of  face  is  very  common  in  this  country, 
and  leads  to  the  belief  that  the  true  type  of  the  negro  is 
not  that  met  on  the  West  Coast,  from  which  most  people 
have  derived  their  ideas  of  the  African.  The  majority  of 
Iieads  here  are  as  well  shaped  as  those  depicted  in  the  an- 
cient Assyrian  and  Egyptian  monuments.  The  lips  are  more 
like  those  of  Europeans  than  of  the  West  Coast  negroes. 
They  may  be  described  as  full,  but  not  unpleasantly  so; 
and  more  heads  may  be  observed  prolonged  a  little  back- 
wards and  upwards  like  that  of  Julius  Ca)sar,  than  among 
ouiselves.  A  large  ring  in  one  ear  reminds  one  of  the 
Egyptian  monuments,  and  so  do  some  of  the  fashions  of 
dressing  the  hair.  The  legs  do  not,  as  a  rule,  present  the 
high  calves,  which  are  supposed  to  distinguish  the  African 
race ;  nor  do  we  meet  what  is  termed  the  lark-heel  any 
oftener  here  than  among  the  civilized  races  of  Europe.  We 
have  noticed  a  peculiar  length  of  thigh-bone  in  several 
instances^  but  have  not  had  an  opportunity  of  ascertaining 


502  THE  BABISA.  Chap.  XXIV. 

whether  it  is  as  common  as  the  long  arms,  which  formerly 
gave  so  much  advantage  in  the  use  of  the  broadsword  among 
ourselves. 

Chinsamba  had  many  Abisa  or  Babisa  in  his  stockade,  and 
it  was  chiefly  by  the  help  of  their  muskets  that  he  had 
repulsed  the  Mazitu.  These  Babisa  are  great  travellers  and 
traders,  and,  in  fact,  occupy  somewhat  the  same  position  in 
this  country,  as  the  Greeks  do  in  the  Levant  About  the  first 
words  they  addressed  to  us  were — "  I  have  seen  the  sea ;  I 
have  been  to  Iboe,  Mosambique,  Quillimane ;  I  know  ships, 
steamers.  Englishmen ;  I  am  a  great  trader.''  On  this 
knowledge  a  claim  was  founded  for  familiarity,  such  as  pro- 
bably is  permitted  by  half-caste  traders  on  the  coast  While 
the  Manganja  viewed  us  with  awe,  as  totally  unlike  any 
people  they  had  ever  seen  before,  the  Babisa  entered  our 
hut|  and  sat  down  with  the  air  of  men  accustomed  to  good 
society.  Wishing  to  be  civil  to  the  intruders,  we  compli- 
mented them  on  their  extensive  travels,  and  trading,  and 
expressed  the  hope  that,  as  they  had  learned  so  much,  and 
become  so  rich,  they  would  be  more  than  usually  generons 
towards  the  weary,  hungry,  and  thirsty  strangers;  but  this 
had  no  effect  We  never  here  or  elsewhere  received  the 
smallest  present  from  the  Babisa.  The  Makololo  usaally 
put  the  matter  pretty  forcibly  by  telling  intrusive  yisitors  of 
this  tribe,  "  that  from  presuming  to  sit  near  to  English- 
men, it  was  plain  that  they  had  never  seen  one  before — 
that  their  travels  were  lies  from  end  to  end — ^that  they 
never  could  have  met  the  real  English  of  the  sea,  hot 
only  mongrel  things  with  hair  like  this"  (pointing  to  their 
own  heads).  Without  being  rude,  we  usually  obtained  only 
just  as  much  of  their  company  as  we  required,  and  found 
that  they  had  more  knowledge  of  the  interior  than  of  the 
seaboard* 


Ghap.  XXIV.  LAUGH  OP  NATIVE  WOMEN.  503 

We  liked  Chinsamba  very  well^  and  found  that  he  was 
decidedly  oppcNsed  to  our  risking  our  lives  by  going  further 
to  the  N.W.    The  Mazitu  were  believed  to  occupy  all  the 
hills  in  that  direction,  so  we  spent  the  4th  September  with 
him.    His  district,  called  Mosapo,  is  undulating,  with  some 
conical  hills,  but  the  haze  only  permitted  us  to  see  short 
distances.    The  grass  was  now  all  yellow,  and  some  black 
patches  showed  where  it  had  been  burned  off.     The  tall 
trees    were  bare    except    on  the    banks  of  the    Lintipe 
which  runs  here  in  a  deep  rocky  channel.     Where  we  for- 
merly crossed  it,  at  the  Lake,  it  was  still  and  deep,  and  a 
hippopotamus  played  in  one  of  ite  reaches.    A  thick  grove 
stood  at  the  stockade  in  which  we  lived,  and  our  men  shot 
many  guinea-fowls  in  it     The  women  and  children  were 
seen  constantly  bathing  in  the  stream,  and  the  men  did 
not  approach,  until  they  had  asked  leave  to  pass.     We 
have  frequently  observed  that  the  Manganja  women  are 
very  particular  in  avoiding  any  spot  where  men  are  sup- 
posed to  be  washing,  and  it  is  only  the  chance  of  a  first 
sight  of  the  white  skin  that  makes  them  at  times  forget 
their  good  manners.    The  laugh  of  the  women  is  brimful  of 
mirth.    It  is  no  simpering  smile,  nor  senseless  loud  guffaw ; 
but  a  merry  ringing  laugh,  the  sound  of  which  does  one's 
heart  good.     One  begins  with  H&,  Hee,  then  comes  the 
chorus  in  which  all  join,  Ha^^^ !  and  they  end  by  slapping 
their  hands  together,  giving  the  spectator  the  idea  of  great 
heartiness.     When  first  introduced  to  a  Chief,  if  we  have 
observed  a  joyous   twinkle  of  the  eye  accompanying  his 
laugh,  we  have  always  set  him  down  as  a  good  fellow,  and 
we  have  never  been  disappointed  in  him  afterwards. 

It  is  rather  a  minute  thing  to  mention,  and  it  will  only  be 
understood  by  those  who  have  children  of  their  own,  but  the 
cries  of  the  little  ones,  in  their  infant  sorrows,  are  the  same 


504  THE  LAKE  AT  MOLAIIBA.  Chap.  XXIT. 

in  tone,  at  different  ages,  bere  as  all  oyer  tlie  world.  We 
have  been  perpetually  reminded  of  borne  and  familj  by  tbe 
wailings  wbich  were  once  familiar  to  parental  ears  and  beart, 
and  felt  thankful  that  to  the  sorrows  of  childhood  oar  cbfldreB 
would  never  have  superadded  the  heartrending  woes  of  tbe 
slave-trade. 

Taking  Chinsamba's  advice  to  avoid  the  Masitn  in  tlieir 
marauding,  we  started  on  the  Sib  September  away  to  the 
N.E.,  and  passed  mile  after  mile  of  Bative  cornfields,  wkb 
an  occasional  cotton-patch.  Many  of  the  thick  c<»ii-stalks 
had  been  broken  in  the  haste  of  the  reapers,  and  lay  across 
the  paths  much  to  our  inconvenience  m  walking*  Men 
and  women  were  eagerly  reaping  the  remaining  ears^  and 
in  baste  conveying  them  to  the  stockades  which  weie 
crammed  with  com,  and  contained  each  three  os  foiur  thoo* 
sand  souls ;  some  took  us  for  Mazftu,  and  fled  in  dismay ; 
but  returned  when  assured  by  our  guides  that  we  were  the 
English,  who  had  sailed  v^  tiie  Lake.  So  much  com  had 
been  scattered  along  the  paths  by  the  Mazitu  and  the  fugi- 
tives in  their  haste,  that  some  women  were  collecting  and 
winnowing  it  from  the  sand.  Three  dead  bodiei^  and  seve- 
ral burned  villages^  showed  that  we  were  close  upon  the 
heels  of  the  invaders,  and  that  the  system  of  securing  ^  kind 
masters "  in  the  Zulu's  hands  is  a  sad  system  enough.  All 
that  can  be  alleged  in  its  favour  is,  that  it  entails  much  less 
loss  of  life  than  that  which  secures  ^  kind  masters  '*  across 
the  ocean  for  far  fewer  survivors. 

After  a  long  march  throu^  cornfields,  we  passed  over 
a  waterless  plain  about  N.N.W.  of  the  hills  of  Tsenga  to 
a  village  on  the  Lake,  and  thence  up  its  shores  to  Chitanda. 
The  banks  of  the  Lake  were  now  crowded  with  fugitives,  who 
had  collected  there  for  the  poor  protection  which  the  reeds 
afforded.    For  miles  along  the  water's  edge  was  one  con-, 


Gbap.  XXIV.  THE  LAKELET  CHIA.  505 

tinuons  Tillage  of  temporary  huts.  The  people  had  brought 
a  little  com  with  them ;  but  they  said,  **  What  shall  we  eat 
when  that  is  done  ?  When  we  plant  com,  the  wild  beasts 
(Zinyama,  as  they  call  the  Mazitu)  come  and  take  it.  Wlien 
we  plant  cassava^  they  do  the  same.  How  are  we  to  live?" 
A  poor  blind  woman,  thinking  we  were  Mazitu,  rushed  oflf  in 
front  of  us  with  outspread  arms,  lifting  the  feet  high,  in  the 
manner  peculiar  to  those  who  have  lost  their  sight,  and 
jumped  into  the  reeds  of  a  stream  for  safety. 

In  our  way  along  the  shores  we  crossed  several  running 
rivulets  of  clear  cold  water,  which,  from  having  reeds  at  their 
confluences^  had  not  been  noticed  in  our  previous  exploration 
in  the  boat.  One  of  these  was  called  Mokola,  and  another 
had  a  strong  odomr  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen.  We  reached 
Molamba  on  the  8th  September,  and  found  our  old  acquaint- 
ance, Nkomo,  there  stilL  One  of  the  advantages  of  travel* 
ling  along  the  shores  of  the  Lake  was,  that  we  could  bathe 
anywhere  in  its  clear  fresh  water.  To  us,  who  had  been 
obliged  so  often  to  restrain  our  inclination  in  the  Zambesi  and 
Shire  for  fear  of  crocodiles,  this  was  pleasant  beyond  mea- 
sure. The  water  now  was  of  the  same  temperature  as  it  was 
on  our  former  visit,  or  72°  Fahr.  The  immense  depth  of 
the  Lake  prevents  the  rays  of  the  sun  from  raising  the  tem- 
perature as  high  as  that  of  the  Shire  and  Zambesi;  and 
the  crocodiles,  having  always  cleai*  water  in  the  Lake, 
and  abundance  of  fish,  rarely  attack  man;  many  of  these 
reptiles  could  be  seen  basking  on  the  rocks. 

A  day's  march  beyond  Molamba  brought  us  to  the  lakelet 
Chia,  which  lies  parallel  with  the  Lake.  It  is  three  or  four 
miles  long,  by  from  one  to  one  and  a  half  broad,  and  com- 
municates with  the  Lake  by  an  arm  of  good  depth,  but  with 
some  rocks  in  it.  As  we  passed  up  between  the  Lake  and 
the   eastern  shore    of  this  lakelet,*  we  did   not    see    any 


606  TRADE  IN  DRIED  FISH.  Cbap.  XXIV. 

Btreams  flowing  into  it.     It  is  quite  remarkable  for  the  abun- 
dance of  fish;   and  we  saw  upwards  of  fifty  large   canoes 
engaged  in  the  fiahery,  which  is  carried  on  by  means  of 
hand-nets  with    side -frame   poles  about  seven  feet  long. 
These  nets  are  nearly  ideotical  with  those  now  in  oae  in 
Normandy  —  tho 
difference   being 
that  the  African 
net  has  a  piece 
of    stick    lashed 
across  the  handle- 
ends  of  the  side 
°^^"*  poles     to     keep 

them  steady,  which  is  a  great  improvement.  The  fish  mnst 
be  very  abundant  to  be  scooped  out  of  the  water  in  such 
quantities  as  we  saw,  and  by  bo  many  canoes.  There  is 
quite  a  trade  here  in  dried  fisK 

The  country  around  is  elevated,  nndulatiug,  and  very 
extensively  planted  with  cassava.  The  hoe  in  use  has  a 
handle  of  four  feet  in  length,  and  the  iron  part  is  exactly  of 
the  same  form  as  that  in  the  country  of  the  Bechuanas.  The 
baskets  here,  which  are  so  closely  woven  together  as  to  hold 
beer,  are  the  same  with  those  employed  to  hold  millr  in 
Kaffirland — a  thousand  miles  distant. 

Marching  on  foot  is  peculiariy  conducive  to  meditation — 
one  is  glad  of  any  subject  to  occupy  the  mind,  and  reUeve 
the  monotony  of  the  weary  treadmill-like  tmdge-trndging. 
This  Chia  net  brought  to  our  mind  that  the  smith's 
bellows  made  here  of  a  goatskin  bag,  with  sticks  along 
the  open  ends,  are  the  same  as  those  in  use  in  the  Bechnaoa 
country  far  to  the  south-west.  These,  with  the  long-handled 
hoe,  may  only  show  that  each  successive  horde  from  north 
to  south  took  inventions  with  it  from  ihe  same  original 


Chap.  XXIV.    SAVAGES  NOT  WHOLLY  UNTAUGHT. 


607 


source.  Where  that  source  may  have  been  is  probably 
indicated  by  another  pair  of  bellows,  which  we  observed  below 
the  Yictoria  Falls,  being  found  in  CentraL  India  and  among 
the  Gipsies  of  Europe. 

Men  in  remote  times  may  have  had  more  highly-developed 
instincts,  which  enabled  them  to  avoid  or  use  poisons ;  but 
the  late  Archbishop  Whately  has  proved,  that  wholly  un- 
taught savages  never  could  invent  anything,  or  even  subsist 
at  all.  Abundant  corroboration  of  his  arguments  is  met 
with  in  this  country,  where  the  natives  require  but  little  in 
the  way  of  clothing,  and  have  remarkably  hardy  stomachs. 
Although  possessing  a  knowledge  of  all  the  edible  roots 
and  fruits  in  the  country,  having  hoes  to  dig  with,  and 
spears,  bows,  and  arrows  to  kiU  the  game, — we  have  seen 
that,  notwithstanding  all  these  apph'ances  and  means  to 
boot,  they  have  perished  of  absolute  starvation. 


MiiDgsqJa  Spean  with  iron  paddles  or  dibbles  In  tbc  eods  of  the  handles  and  welfi^ted  with  iron  rings. 

Three  kinds  of  wild  grasses  are  met  with,  the  seeds  of 
which  may  be  used  as  food — one  of  them,  caUed  Nocmje,  has 
been  coltivated,  and  when  the  grain  is  separated  from  the 
husks,  and  cooked,  it  yields  a  tolerable  meal ;  but  without 
the  art  of  pounding  these  grains,  and  separating  the  husks, 
the  stomachs  of  the  lowest  savages  could  not  endure  the 
sharp  scales  which  form  at  least  a  half  of  the  grain.  The 
same  form  of  pestle  and  mortar  for  clearing  grain  is  met  with 
from  Egypt  to  the  southern  extremity  of  the  continent ;  the 
existence  of  this  seems  to  show  that  the  same  want  has  been 
felt  and  provided  for  from  the  period  of  the  earliest  migra* 
tions  of  the  Africans. 


508  INSTRUCTION  FROM  ABOVE.         Chap.  XXIV. 

Since  we  find  that  men,  who  already  possess  a  knowledge 
of  the  arts  needed  by  even  the  lowest  savages,  are  swept  oflF 
the  earth  when  reduced  to  a  dependence  on  wild  roots  and 
fniits  alone,  it  is  nearly  certain  that  if  they  ever  had  been 
in  what  is  called  a  state  of  nature,  from  being  so  much 
less  fitted  for  supporting  and  taking  care  of  themselves  than 
the  brutes,  they  could  not  have  lived  long  enough  to  have 
attained  even  to  the  ordinary  state  of  savages.  They  could 
not  have  survived  for  a  sufficient  period  to  invent  any- 
thing, such  as  we  who  are  not  savages,  and  know  how  to 
make  the  egg  stand  on  its  end,  think  that  we  easily 
could  have  invented.  The  •  existence,  therefore,  of  the 
various  instruments  in  use  among  the  Afiicans,  and  other 
partially  civilized  people,  indicates  the  communication  of 
instruction  at  some  period  from  some  Being  superior  to  man 
liimsel£ 

The  art  of  making  fire  is  the  same  in  India  as  in  Afirica. 
The  smelting  furnaces,  for  reducing  iron  and  copper  from  the 
ores,  are  also  similar.  Yellow  haematite,  which  bears  not  the 
small^t  resemblance  either  in  colour  or  weight  to  the  metal, 
is  employed  near  Kolobeng  for  the  production  of  iron.  Mala- 
chite, the  precious  green  stone  used  in  civilized  life  for  vases, 
would  never  be  suspected  by  the  uninstructed  to  be  a  rich 
ore  of  copper,  and  yet  it  is  extensively  smelted  for  rings  and 
other  ornaments  in  the  heart  of  Africa.  A  copper  bar  of 
native  manufacture  four  feet  long  was  offered  to  us  for  sale 
at  Chinsamba's.  These  arts  are  monuments  attesting  the 
fact,  that  some  instruction  from  above  must  at  some  time  or 
other  have  been  supplied  to  mankind;  and,  as  Archbishop 
Whately  says,  "the  most  probable  conclusion  is,  that  man 
when  first  created,  or  very  shortly  afterwards,  was  ad- 
vanced, by  the  Creator  himself,  to  a  state  above  that  of 
a  mere  savage." 


Chap.  XXIV.    CONFIRMATION  OP  BIBLE  HISTORY.  609 

The  argument  for  an  original  revelation  to  man,  though 
quite  independent  of  the  Bible  hirtoiy,  tends  to  confirm  that 
history.  It  is  of  the  same  nature  with  this,  that  man  could 
not  have  made  himself,  and  therefore  must  have  had  a 
Divine  Creator.  Mankind  could  not,  in  the  first  instance, 
have  civilized  themselves,  and  therefore  must  have  had  a 
superhuman  Inatructor. 

In  connexion  with  this  subject^  it  is  remarkable  that 
throughout  successive  generations  no  change  has  taken 
place  in  the  form  of  the  various  inventions.  Hammers, 
tongs,  hoes,  axes,  adzes,  handles  to  them;  needles,  bows 
and  arrows,  with  the  mode  of  feathering  the  latter;  spears, 
fo9  killing  game,  with  spear-heads  having  what  is  termed 
"  dish  **  on  both  sides  to  give  them,  when  thrown,  the 
rotatory  motion  of  rifle-balls;  the  arts  of  spinning  and 
weaving,  with  that  of  pounding  and  steeping  the  inner 
bark  of  a  tree  till  it  serves  as  clothing;  millstones  for 
grinding  com  into  meal;  the  manufacture  of  the  same 
kind  of  pots  or  chatties  as  in  India;  the  art  of  cooking, 
of  brewing  beer  and  straining  it  as  was  done  in  ancient 
Egypt;  fish-hooks,  fishing  and  hunting  nets,  fish-baskets, 
and  weirs,  the  same  as  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland; 
traps  for  catching  animals,  &c.  &c., — have  all  been  so  very 
permanent  from  a^e  to  age,  and  some  of  them  of  identical 
patterns  are  so  widely  spread  over  the  globe,  as  to  render 
it  probable  that  they  were  aJl,  at  least  in  some  degree, 
derived  from  one  Source.  The  African  traditions,  which  seem 
possessed  of  the  same  unchangeability  as  the  arts  to  which 
they  relate,  like  those  of  all  other  nations  refer  their  origin 
to  a  superior  Being.  And  it  is  much  more  reasonable  to 
receive  the  hints  given  in  Genesis,  concerning  direct  in- 
struction from  God  to  our  first  parents  or  their  children  in 
religious  or  moral  duty,  and  probably  in  the  knowledge 


510  LAKE  NYASSA.  Chap.  XXIV. 

of  the  arts  of  life,*  than  to  give  credence  to  the  theory  that 
untaught  savage  man  subsisted  in  a  state  which  would  prove 
fSatal  to  all  his  descendants,  and  that  in  such  helpless  state 
he  made  many  inventions  which  most  of  his  progeny  retained, 
but  never  improved  upon  during  some  thirty  centuries. 

We  crossed  in  canoes  the  arm  of  the  Lake,  which  joins 
Chia  to  Nyassa,  and  spent  the  night  on  its  northern  bank. 
The  whole  country  adjacent  to  the  Lake,  &om  this  point  up 
to  Kota-kota  Bay,  is  densely  peopled  by  thousands  who  have 
j9ed  from  the  forays  of  the  Mazitu  in  hopes  of  protection  from 
the  Arabs  who  live  there.  In'three  running  rivulets  we  saw 
the  Shiuzre  palm,  and  an  oil  palm  which  is  much  inferior  to 
that  on  the  West  Coast.  Though  somewhat  similar  .in 
appearance,  the  fruit  is  not  mach  larger  than  hazel-nuts,  and 
the  people  do  not  use  them,  on  account  of  the  small  quantity 
of  oil  which  they  aflford. 

The  idea  of  using  oil  for  light  never  seems  to  have  entered 
the  African  mind.  Here  a  bundle  of  split  and  dried  bamboo, 
tied  together  with  creeping  plants,  as  thick  as  a  man's  body, 
and  about  twenty  feet  in  length,  is  employed  in  the  canoes  as 
a  torch  to  attract  the  fish  at  night.  It  would  be  considered  a 
piece  of  the  most  wasteful  extravagance  to  burn  the  oil  they 
obtain  from  the  castor-oil  bean  and  other  seeds,  and  also  from 
certain  fish,  or  in  fact  to  do  anything  with  it  but  anoint 
their  heads  and  bodies. 


*  Genesis,  chap,  iii.,  Yerses  21  and  imply  teaching.      Vide    Archbishop 

23,  **  make  coats  of  skins,  and  clothed  Whately  s  'History  of  Beligioos  Wor- 

them  ** — ••  sent   him   forth  from  the  ,   ship.*    John  W.  Parker,  West  Strand, 

garden  of  Eden  to  till  the  ground  "  |   London,  1S49. 


Chap.  XXV,  KOTA-KOTA  BAY,  51 1 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

Koia-kota  Bay— Arabs  bnilding  a  dhow — Natiree  congregate  to  any  point 
which  affords  hope  of  protection  from  war — Does  Mohammedanism  spread 
in  Africa  ?  —  Pagan  Africans  superior  in  morality  to  followers  of  the  False 
Prophet — Leave  for  the  West — Ascent  of  the  plateau  —  Native  ceremony 
of  initiation  —  Slave  route  —  Effects  of  rarefied  air — Primitive  African 
religion  inculcates  humility  —  Unlike  Mohammedanism  —  Cruel  rites  limited 
to  the  small  district  of  Dahomey  —  Witchcraft  or  influence  of  plants — Ab- 
sence of  idol  worship — Humid  climate — Loangwa  of  the  Lake  and  Loangwa 
of  Maravi — Matumboka  —  Filing  the  teeth  and  tattooing  —  Gunpowder  the 
source  of  slave-trader's  power  —  Slave-hunters  mode  of  attack — Muazi  in 
Easungu  —  Causes  of  inundations — Rains — Climate  dependent  on  pre- 
vailing winds —  The  watershed  —  Native  geography  —  Comparison  between 
Africa  and  India  —  Fossils  —  The  iron  age — ^Minute  topography  —  Native 
language. 

We  arrived  at  Kota-kota  Bay  in  the  afternoon  of  the  10th 
September,  1863;  and  sat  down  under  a  magnificent  wild 
fig-tree  with  leaves  ten  inches  long,  by  five  broad,  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  village  of  Juma  ben  Saidi,  and 
Yakobe  ben  Arame,  whom  we  had  met  on  the  Kiver  Kaombe, 
a  little  north  of  this,  in  our  fii-st  exploration  of  the  L{ike« 
We  had  rested  but  a  short  time  when  Juma,  who  is  evidently 
the  chief  person  here,  followed  by  about  fifty  people,  came  to 
salute  us  and  to  invite  us  to  take  up  our  quarters  in  his 
village*  The  hut.  which,  by  mistake,  was  ofiered,  was  so 
small  and  dirty  that  we  preferred  sleeping  in  an  open  space 
a  few  hundred  yards  ofi. 

Juma  afterwards  apologized  for  the  mistake,  and  presented 
us  with  rice,  meal,  sugar-cane,  and  a  piece  of  malachite. 
We  returned  his  visit  on  the  following  day,  and  found  him 
engaged  in  building  a  dhow  or  Arab  vessel,  to  replace  one 
which  he  said  had  been  wrecked.    This  new  one  was  fifty 


512  THE  ARAB  DHOW.  Chap.  XX?. 

feet  long,  twelve  feet  broad,  and  five  feet  deep.  The  planks 
were  of  a  wood  like  teak,  here  called  Timbati,  and  the 
timbers  of  a  closer  grained  wood  called  Msaro.  The  sight 
of  this  dhow  gave  ns  a  hint  which,  had  we  previously  re- 
ceived it,  would  have  prevented  our  attempting  to  carry  a 
vessel  of  iron  past  the  Cataracts.  The  trees  around  Katosa's 
village  were  Timbati,  and  they  would  have  yielded  planks 
fifty  feet  long  and  thirty  inches  broad.  With  a  few  native 
carpenters  a  good  vessel  could  be  built  on  the  Lake  nearly 
as  quickly  as  one  could  be  carried  past  the  Cataracts,  and  at 
a  vastly  less  cost  Juma  said  that  no  money  would  induce 
him  to  part  with  this  dhow.  He  was  very  busy  in  transporting 
slaves  across  the  Lake  by  means  of  two  boats,  which  we  saw 
returning  from  a  trip  in  the  afternoon*  As  he  did  not  know 
of  our  intention  to  visit  him,  we  came  upon  several  gangs  of 
stout  young  men  slaves,  each  secured  by  the  neck  to  one 
common  chain,  waiting  for  exportation,  and  several  more 
in  slave-sticks.  These  were  all  civilly  removed  before  our 
interview  was  over,  because  Juma  knew  that  we  did  not 
relish  the  sight. 

When  we  met  the  same  Arabs  in  1861,  they  had  bat 
few  attendants:  according  to  their  own  account  they  had  now, 
in  the  village  and  adjacent  country,  1500  souls.  It  is  certain 
that  tens  of  thousands  had  flocked  to  them  for  protection, 
and  all  their  power  and  influence  must  be  attributed  to 
the  possession  of  guns  and  gunpowder.  This  crowding  of 
reftigees  to  any  point  where  there  is  a  hope  for  security 
for  life  and  property  is  very  common  in  this  region,  and 
the  knowledge  of  it  made  our  hopes  beat  high  for  the  success 
of  a  peaceful  Mission  on  the  shores  of  the  Lake.  The  rate, 
however,  in  which  the  people  here  will  perish  by  the  next 
famine,  or  be  exported  by  Juma  and  others,  will,  we  fear, 
depopulate  those  parts  which  we  have  just  described  as 


Chap.  XXV.      DECLINE  OP  MOHAMMEDANISM.  613 

crowded  with  people.  Hunger  will  ere  long  compel  them 
to  sell  each  other.  An  intelligent  man  complained  to  us 
of  the  Arabs  often  seizing  slaves,  to  whom  they  took  a  fancy, 
without  the  formality  of  purchase  ;  but  the  price  is  so  low — 
from  two  to  four  yards  of  calico — that  one  can  scarcely  think 
this  seizure  and  exportation  without  payment  woi-th  their 
while*  The  boats  were  in  constant  employment,  and,  curi- 
ously enough,  Ben  Habib,  whom  we  met  at  Linyanti  in 
1855,  had  been  taken  across  the  Lake,  the  day  before  our 
arrival  at  this  Bay,  on  his  way  from  Sesheke  to  Kilwa,  and 
we  became  acquainted  with  a  native  servant  of  the  Arabs, 
called  Selele  Saidallah,  who  could  speak  the  Makololo  lan- 
guage pretty  fairly  from  having  once  spent  some  months  in 
the  Barotse  Valley. 

From  boyhood  upwards  we  have  been  accustomed,  from 
time  to  time,  to  read  in  books  of  travels  about  the  great 
advances  annually  made  by  Mohammedanism  in  Africa.  The 
rate  at  which  this  religion  spreads  was.  said  to  be  so  rapid, 
that  in  after  days,  in  our  own  pretty  extensive  travels,  we 
have  constantly  been  on  the  look  out  for  the  advancing  wave 
from  North  to  South,  which,  it  was  prophesied,  would  soon 
reduce  the  entire  continent  to  the  faith  of  the  false,  prophet 
The  only  foundation  that  we  can  discover  for  the  assertions 
referred  to,  and  for  others  of  more  recent  date,  is  the  fact 
that  in  a  remote  comer  of  North-Western  Africa  the  Fulahs, 
and  Mandingoes,  and  some  others  in  Northern  Africa,  as 
mentioned  by  Dr.  Barth,  have  made  conquests  of  terri- 
tory; but*  even  they  care  so  very  little  for  the  extension  of 
their  faith,  that  after  conquest  no  pains  whatever  are  taken 
to  indoctrinate  the  adults  of  the  tribe.  This  is  in  exact 
accordance  with  the  impression  we  have  received  from  our 
intercourse  with  Mohammedans  and  Christians.  The  followers 
of  Christ  alone  are  anxious  to  propagate  their  faith.    A 

2  L 


514  AFRICANS  THE  BETTER  MEN.        Chap.  XXV. 

qttasi  philanthropist  would  certainly  never  need  to  recom- 
mend the  followers  of  Islam,  whom  we  have  met»  to  restrain 
their  beneyolenee  by  preaching  that  **  Charity  should  begin  at 
home.*' 

Though  Selele  and  his  companions  were  bound  to  their 
masters  by  domestic  ties,  the  only  new  idea  they  had  imbibed 
from  Mohammedanism  was,  that  it  would  be  wrong  to  eat  meat 
killed  by  other  people.  They  thought  it  would  be  "un- 
lucky." Just  as  the  inhabitants  of  Kolobeng,  before  beiog 
taught  the  requirements  of  Christianity,  re&ained  from 
hoeing  their  gardens  on  Sundays,  lest  they  should  reap  an 
unlucky  crop.  So  far  as  we  could  learn,  no  efiTorts  had  been 
made  to  convert  the  natives,  though  these  two  Arabs,  and 
about  a  dozen  hsdf-castes,  had  been  in  the  country  for 
many  years ;  and  judging  from  our  experience  with  a  dozen 
Mohammedans  in  our  employ  at  high  wages  for  sixteen  months, 
the  Africans  would  be  the  better  men  in  pit)portion  as  they 
retained  their  native  faith.  This  may  appear  only  a  harsh 
judgment  from  a  mind  imbued  with  Christian  prejudices; 
but  without  any  pretension  to  that  impartiality,  which  leaves 
it  doubtful  to  which  side  the  affections  lean,  the  truth  may 
be  fairlj  stated  by  one  who  viewed  all  Mohammedans  and 
Africans  with  the  sincerest  good  will. 

Our  twelve  Mohammedans  from  Johanna  were  the  least 
open  of  any  of  our  party  to  impression  fit)m  kindness.  A 
marked  difference  in  general  conduct  was  apparent  The 
Makololo,  and  other  natives  of  the  country,  whom  we  had 
with  us,  invariably  shared  with  each  other  the  food  they  had 
cooked,  but  the  Johanna  men  partook  of  their  meals  at  a 
distance.  This,  at  first,  we  attributed  to  their  Moslem  pre- 
judices ;  but  when  they  saw  the  cooking  process  of  the  others 
nearly  complete,  they  came,  sat  beside  them,  and  ate  the 
portion  offered  without   ever   remembering  to  return  th# 


Chap.  XXV.  MOHAMMEDAN  AMBITION.  515 

compliment  when  their  own  turn  came  to  be  generous. 
The  Makololo  and  the  others  grumbled  at  their  greedi- 
ness, yet  always  followed  the  common  custom  of  Africans 
of  sharing  their  food  with  all  who  sit  around  them.  What 
vexed  us  most  in  the  Johanna  men  was  their  indiffer- 
ence to  the  welfare  of  each  other.  Once,  when  they  were 
all  coming  to  the  ship  after  sleeping  ashore,  one  of  them 
walked  into  the  water  with  the  intention  of  swimming 
off  to  the  boat,  and  while  yet  hardly  up  to  his  knees  was 
seized  by  a  horrid  crocodile  and  dragged  under;  the  poor 
fellow  gave  a  shriek,  and  held  up  his  hand  for  aid,  but 
none  of  his  countrymen  stirred  to  his  assistance,  and  he 
was  never  seen  again.  On  asking  his  brother-in-law  why 
he  did  not  help  him,  he  replied,  **Well,  no  one  told  him 
to  go  into  the  water.  It  was  his  own  fault  that  he  was 
killed.^  The  Makololo  on  the  other  hand  rescued  a  woman 
at  Senna  by  entering  the  water,  and  taking  her  out  of  the 
crocodile's  mouth. 

It  is  not  assumed  that  their  religion  had  much  to  do 
in  the  matter.  Many  Mohammedans  might  contrast  favour- 
ably with  indifferent  Christians ;  but,  so  far  as  our  experi- 
ence in  East  Africa  goes,  the  moral  tone  of  the  follower 
of  Mahomed  is  pitched  at  a  lower  key  than  that  of  the 
untutored  African.  The  ancient  zeal  for  propagating  the 
tenets  of  the  Koran  has  evaporated,  and  been  replaced  by 
the  most  intense^  selfishness  and  grossest  sensuality.  The 
only  known  efforts  made  by  Mohammedans,  namely,  those  in 
the  North-West  and  North  of  the  continent,  are  so  linked 
with  the  acquisition  of  power  and  plunder,  as  not  to  deserve 
the  name  of  religious  propagandism ;  and  the  only  religion 
that  now  makes  proselytes  is  that  of  Jesus  Christ.  To  those 
who  are  capable  of  taking  a  comprehensive  view  of  this  sub- 
ject, nothing  can  be  adduced  of  more  telling  significance  than 

2  L  2 


516 


LEAVE  FOR  THE  WEST. 


Chap.  XXV. 


the  well-attested  £eu;t,  that  while  the  MohammedanSy  Fulalu, 
and  others  towards  Central  Africa,  make  a  few  proselytes  by 
a  process  which  gratifies  their  own  coyetousness,  three  small 
sections  of  the  Christian  converts,  the  Africans  in  the  Soath, 
in  the  West  Indies,  and  on  the  West  Coast  of  Africa  actually 
contribute  for  the  support  and  spread  of  their  religion  upwards 
of  15,0O0Z.  annually.*  That  religion  which  so  far  overcomes 
the  selfishness  of  the  human  heart  must  be  Divina 

Leaving  Kotarkota  Bay,  we  turned  away  due  West  on  the 
great  slave-route  to  Katanga's  and  Cazembe's  country  in 
Londa.  Juma  lent  us  his  servant^  Selele,  to  lead  us  the  fint 
day's  march.  He  said  that  the  traders  from  Eilwa  and  Iboe 
cross  the  Lake  either  at  this  bay,  or  at  Tsenga,  or  at  the 
southern  end  of  the  Lake;  and  that  wherever  they  may 
cross  they  all  go  by  this  path  to  the  interior.  They  have 
slaves  with  them  to  carry  their  goods,  and  when  they  reach 
a  spot  where  they  can  easily  buy  others,  they  settle  down 
and  begin  the  traffic,  and  at  once  cultivate  grain.  So  much 
of  the  land  lies  waste,  that  no  objection  is  ever  made  to  any 
one  taking  possession  of  as  much  as  he  needs ;  they  can  pur- 
chase a  field  of  cassava  for  their  present  wants  for  very  little, 
and  they  continue  trading  in  the  country  for  two  or  three 
years,  and  giving  what  weight  their  muskets  possess  to  the 
Chief  who  is  most  liberal  to  them. 

The  first  day's  march  led  us  over  a  rich,  weU-coltiTated 
plain.  This  was  succeeded  by  highlands,  undulating,  stony, 
and  covered  with  scraggy  trees.  Many  banks  of  well  rounded 
shingle  appear.  The  disintegration  of  the  rocks,  now  going 
on,  does  not  round  off  the  angles ;  they  are  split  up  by  the 


♦  "In  1854  the  native  church  at 
Bierra-Leone  undertook  to  pay  for 
their  primary  schools,  and  thereby 
effected  a  saving  to  the  CHiiirch 
JUisaionary  Society  of  800?.  per  annum. 


In  1861  the  contributions  of  this 
one  section  of  native  Qmstians  had 
amounted  to  upwards  of  10,000L" — 
'Manual  of  Church  Missionaiy  So- 
ciety's AMoan  Biiasions.' 


Chap.  XXV.  THE  RIVER  BUA.  517 

heat  and  cold  into  angular  fragments.  On  these  high  downs 
we  crossed  the  Biver  E^aombe.  Beyond  it  we  came  among 
the  upland  yegetation — ^rhododendrons,  proteas,  the  masuko, 
and  molompi.  At  the  foot  of  the  hill,  Easuko-suko,  we 
found  the  Biver  Bua  running  north  to  join  the  Kaombe. 
We  had  to  go  a  mile  out  of  our  way  for  a  ford ;  the  stream 
is  deep  enough  at  parts  for  hippopotami.  The  various  streams 
not  previously  noticed,  crossed  in  this  journey,  had  before 
this  led  us  to  the  conclusion,  independently  of  the  testimony 
of  the  natives,  that  no  large  river  ran  into  the  north  end 
of  the  Lake.  No  such  affluent  was  needed  to  account  for 
the  Shire's  perennial  flow. 

In  looking  forwatd  we  seemed  to  be  ascending  the  long 
slope  of  a  range  of  mountains;  but  the  nearer  view  consisted 
of  a  succession  of  beautiful  tree-covered  rounded  hills;  the 
nanow  footpaths  were  perpetuaUy  leading  op  steep  inclineB 
and  down  descents  to  running  rills,  whose  sides  were  fringed 
with  fine,  large  evergreen  trees ;  the  deciduous  trees  having 
parted  with  their  leaves,  were  now  enjoying  the  rest  of 
vnnter,  though  only  twelve  degrees  from  the  Equator.  The 
people  in  the  villages  into  which  we  entered  were  generally 
employed  in  making  very  neat  fish  and  other  baskets  of  split 
bamboos,  or  in  beating  the  bark  of  trees  into  cloth.  The 
bark  cloth,  made  to  the  north  of  this  diskict,  is  from  a 
species  of  fig^ree.  The  cassava  is  the  chief  food  cultivated 
on  the  heights;  the  castor-oil  plant  is  extensively  grown 
also,  and  oil  is  extracted  from  the  seeds  for  the  purpose  of 
lubricating  the  body  and  more  especially  the  hair,  which  is 
worn  very  long.  From  the  careful  way  in  which  many  train 
out  their  hair  into  different-shaped  masses,  it  has  less  of 
wavy  curl  than  the  wool  of  a  long-fleeced  sheep— the  oil 
seems  to  keep  it  straight 

In  one  village  we  found  all  the  women  engaged  in  cele- 


518  CEREMONY  OF  INITIATION.  Chap.  XXV. 

brating,  with'  dancing  and  singing,  a  ceremony  for  two  girls 
of  twelve  or  fourteen,  analogous  to  the  boguera  which  among 
the  Bechuana  and  Makololo  forms  the  young  men  into  bands 
or  regiments  for  life.  The  Bechuana  call  it  boydU  when  the 
novices  are  girls,  and  here  the  ceremony  is  named  moari, 
evidently  a  cognate  word.  These  girls  were  dressed  with  a 
profusion  of  beads,  and  painted  over  the  head  and  face  .with 
pipeclay,  which  gave  them  the  appearance  of  wearing  an 
ancient  helmet  with  chin-straps.  The  women  were  so  eager 
in  the  dance  and  in  teaching  their  yoimg  protegees  to 
perform  their  part  in  it  properly,  that  they  paid  no  atten- 
tion to  the  entreaties  of  the  men  to  go  and  grind  meal, 
and  doihe  themselves  with  the  cloth  the  strangers  had 
brought.  Whence  these  customs,  and  from  whom  a  number 
of  laws  which  are  recognised  for  thousands  of  miles,  have 
been  derived,  no  one  can  divine.  They  seem  to  have  made 
an  indelible  impression  on  the  native  mind,  and  abide  in  it 
unchanged,  from  age  to  age.  The  boguera  has  something 
of  the  Jewish  ceremony  of  initiation,  but  it  is  a  political, 
not  a  religious  institution.  It  cannot  be  traced  to  Arab 
origin,  and  is  spoken  of,  by  those  who  have  imdergone  it, 
under  the  breath,  and  with  a  circumlocution  which  shows 
that  they  regard  it  in  a  very  serious  h'ght 

On  September  ISth  we  reached  the  top  of  the  ascent 
which,  from  its  many  ups  and  downs,  had  often  made  us  puff 
and  blow  as  if  broken-winded.  The  water  of  the  streams  we 
crossed  was  deliciously  cold,  and  now  that  we  had  gained  the 
summit  at  Ndonda,  where  the  boiling-point  of  water  showed 
an  altitude  of  3440  feet  above  the  sea,  the  air  was  delightful. 
Looking  back  we  had  a  magnificent  view  of  the  Lake,  but 
the  haze  prevented  our  seeing  beyond  the  sea  horizon.  The 
scene  was  beautiful,  but  it  was  impossible  to  dissociate  the 
lovely  landscape  whose  hills  and  dales  had  so  sorely  tried 


Chap.  XXV.  SLAVE  ROUTE.  519 

our  legs  and  luDgs,  from  the  sad  fact  that  this  was  part  of  the 
great  slave-route  now  actuaUy  in  use.  By  this  road  many 
"  Ten  thousands"  have  here  seen  "  the  Sea,"  "  the  Sea,"  but 
with  sinking  hearts ;  for  the  universal  idea  among  the  captive 
gangs  is,  that  they  are  going  to  be  fattened  and  eaten  by  the 
whites.  They  cannot  of  course  be  so  much  shocked  as  we 
should  be — ^their  sensibilities  are  far  from  fine,  their  feelings 
are  more  obtuse  than  ours — in  faat,  "the  live  eels  are  used 
to  being  skinned,"  perhaps  they  rather  like  it.  We  who  are 
not  philosophic,  blessed  the  Providence  which  at  Thermopyl© 
in  ancient  days  rolled  back  the  tide  of  Eastern  conquest  6t)m 
the  Westy  and  so  guided  the  course  of  events  that  light  and 
liberty  and  Gospel  truth  spread  to  our  distant  isle,  and  eman- 
cipating our  race  freed  them  from  the  fear  of  ever  again 
having  to  climb  fatiguing  heights  and  descend  wearisome 
hollows  in  a  slave-gang,  as  we  suppose  they  did  when  the 
fair  English  youths  were  exposed  for  sale  at  Boma 

Looking  westwards  we  perceived  that,  what  from  below 
had  the  appearance  of  mountains,  was  only  the  edge  of  a 
table-land  which,  though  at  first  undulating,  soon  became 
smooth,  and  sloped  towards  the  centre  of  the  country.  To 
the  south  a  prominent  mountain  called  Chipata,  and  to  the 
south-west  another  named  Ngalla,  by  which  the  Bua  is  said 
to  rise,  gave  character  to  the  landscape.  In  the  north,  masses 
of  hills  prevented  our  seeing  more  than  eight  or  ten  miles. 

The  air  which  was  so  exhilarating  to  Europeans  had  an 
opposite  effect  on  five  men  who  had  been  bom  and  reared  in 
the  malaria  of  the  Delta  of  the  Zambesi.  No  sooner  did  they 
reach  the  edge  of  the  plateau  at  Ndonda,  than  they  lay  down 
prostrate,  and  complained  of  pains  all  over  them.  The  tem- 
perature was  not  much  lower  than  that  on  the  shores  of  the 
Lake  below,  76°  being  the  mean  temperature  of  the  day,  52° 
the  lowest,  and  82°  the  highest  during  the  twenty-four  hours; 


520  EFFECTS  OP  RAREFIED  AIR.  Chap,  XXV. 

at  the  Lake  it  was  about  10°  higher.  Of  the  symptoms  they 
complained  of — pains  everywhere^ — nothing  could  be  made. 
And  yet  it  was  evident  that  they  had  good  reason  for  saying 
that  they  were  ilL  They  scarified  almost  every  part  of  their 
bodies  as  a  remedial  measure;  medicines,  administered  on 
the  supposition  that  their  malady  was  the  effect  of  a  sudden 
chill,  had  no  effect,  and  in  two  days  one  of  them  actually  died 
in  consequence  of,  as  far  as  we  could  judge,  a  change  from  a 
malarious  to  a  purer  and  more  rarefied  atmosphere. 

As  we  were  on  the  slave  route,  we  found  the  people  more 
churlish  than  usual.  On  being  expostulated  with  about  it, 
they  replied,  "  We  have  been  made  wary  by  those  who  come 
to  buy  slaves."  The  calamity  of  death  having  befallen  our 
party,  seemed,  however,  to  awaken  their  sympathies.  They 
pointed  out  their  usual  burying-place,  lent  us  hoes,  and 
helped  to  make  the  grave.  When  we  offered  to  pay  aU 
expenses,  they  showed  that  they  had  not  done  these  friendly 
offices  without  fully  appreciating  their  value ;  for  they  enu- 
merated the  use  of  the  hut,  the  mat  on  which  the  deceased 
had  lain,  the  hoes,  the  labour,  and  the  medicine  which  they 
had  scattered  over  the  place  to  make  him  rest  in  peace. 

The  power  ascribed  to  certain  medicines,  made  from  plants 
known  only  to  the  initiated,  is  the  most  prominent  feature 
in  the  religion  of  the  Africans.  According  to  their  belief 
there  is  not  only  a  specific  for  every  ill  that  flesh  is  heir  to, 
but  for  every  woe  of  the  wounded  spirit.  The  good  spirifo 
of  the  departed,  Azimo  or  Bazimo,  may  be  propitiated  by 
medicines,  or  honoured  by  offerings  of  beer  or  meal,  or  any- 
tiling  they  loved  while  in  the  body;  and  the  bad  spirits, 
"JlfcAe«i,"  of  whom  we  have  heard  only  at  Tette,  and 
therefore  cannot  be  certain  that  they  belong  to  the  pure 
native  faith,  may  be  prevented  by  medicine  from  mAlring 
raids  and  mischief  in  the  gardens.    A  man  with  headache 


Chap.  XXV.  PRIMITIVE  AFRICAN  FAITH.  521 

was  heard  to  say,  "  My  departed  father  is  now  scoldhig  me ; 
I  fed  his  power  in  my  head ; "  and  then  was  observed  to  re- 
move from  the  company,  make  an  offering  of  a  little  food  on 
a  leaf  and  pray,  looking  upwards  to  where  he  supposed  his 
father  s  spirit  to  be.  They  are  not,  like  Mohammedans^ 
ostentatious  in  their  prayers.  They  speak  of  the  spirit  world 
with  reverence,  and  court  the  shade  and  silence  for  their  acts 
of  worship.  The  Mohammedan  is  right  in  making  the  great 
show  ho  does,  bowing  down  to  the  earth  before  all,  and  using 
the  repetitions  which  belong  to  his  creed,  because  his  peligion 
enjoins  great  show  of  piety,  and  fosters  the  idea  of  proud 
superiority  in  the  .self-complacent  Pharisee  over  the  whole 
human  family ;  while  the  African  retires  from  view,  somewhat 
like  the  Christian,  who  enters  into  his  closet,  and,  when  he 
has  shut  the  door,  prays  to  his  Father  who  sees  in  secret. 

The  primitive  African  MUx  seems  to  be  that  there  is  one 
Almighty  Maker  of  heaven  and  earth ;  that  he  has  given 
the  various  plants  of  earth  to  man  to  be  employed  as  mediators 
between  him  and  the  spirit  world,  where  all  who  have  ever 
been  bom  and  died  continue  to  live ;  that  sin  consists  in 
offences  against  their  fellow-men,  either  here  or  among  the 
departed,  and  that  death  is  often  a  pimishment  of  guilt, 
such  as  witchcraft  Their  idea  of  moral  evil  differs  in  no 
respect  from  ours,  but  they  consider  themselves  amenablo 
only  to  inferior  beings,  not  to  the  Supreme.  Evil  speaking- 
lying — ^hatred — disobedience  to  parents — neglect  of  them— 
are  said  by  the  intelligent  to  have  been  all  known  to  be  sin,  as 
well  as  theft,  murder,  or  adultery,  before  they  knew  aught 
of  Europeans  or  their  teaching.  The  only  new  addition  to 
their  moral  code  is,  that  it  is  wrong  to  have  more  vrives 
than  one.  This,  until  the  arrival  of  Europeans,  never  entered 
into  their  minds  even  as  a  doubt 

Everything  not  to  be  accounted  for  by  common  causes, 


522  MILDNESS  OF  THEIR  RELIGION.       Chap.  XXV. 

whether  of  good  or  evil,  is  ascribed  to  the  Deity.  Men  are 
inseparably  connected  with  the  spirits  of  the  departed,  and 
when  one  dies  he  is  believed  to  have  joined  the  hosts  of  his 
ancestors.  All  the  Africans  we  have  met  with  sure  as  firmly 
persuaded  of  their  future  eiristence  as  of  their  present  life. 
And  we  have  found  none  in  whom  the  belief  in  the  Supreme 
Being  was  not  rooted.  He  is  so  invariably  referred  to  as  the 
Author  of  everything  supernatural,  that,  unless  one  is  igno- 
rant of  their  language,  he  cannot  fail  to  notice  this  promi- 
nent feature  of  their  faith.  When  they  pass  into  the  un- 
seen world,  they  do  not  seem  to  be  possessed  with  the  fear 
of  punishment.  The  utensils  placed  upgn  the  grave  are  all 
broken  as  if  to  indicate  that  they  wiU  never  be  used  by  the 
departed  again.  The  body  is  put  into  the  grave  in  a  sitting 
posture,  and  the  hands  are  folded  in  fix)nt.  In  some  parts  of 
the  country  there  are  tales  which  we  could  translate  into 
faint  glimmerings  of  a  resurrection;  but  whether  these  fables, 
handed  down  from  age  to  age,  convey  that  meaning  to  the 
natives  themselves  we  cannot  tell.  The  true  tradition  of  fiuth 
is  asserted  to  be  '^  though  a  man  die  he  will  live  again  ;**  the 
false,  that  when  he  dies  he  is  dead  for  ever. 

Though  cheerless  enough  to  a  Christian,  the  African's  reli- 
gion is  mild  in  its  character.  In  one  very  remote  and  small 
comer  of  the  country,  called  Dahomey^  it  has  degenerated 
into  a  bloody  superstition.  Human  blood  there  takes  the 
place  of  the  propitiatory  plants  which  are  used  over  nine- 
tenths  of  the  continent  The  reckless  disregard  of  human 
life  mentioned  by  Speke  and  Grant  is  quite  exceptional.  We 
have  heard  from  natives  that  a  former  possessor  of  Mati- 
amvo's  Chieftainship  was  subject,  to  fits  of  a  similar  blood- 
thirstiness,  but  he  was  clearly  insane ;  and  the  great  reverence 
for  royalty,  with  which  the  Africans  are  imbued,  alone  saved 
him,  and  probably  Speke's  Chief,  Mtesi,  also,  from  decapita^ 


Chap.  XXV.  ABSENCE  OF  IDOL-WORSHIP.  523 

tion.  In  two  or  three  other  places,  parts  of  the  human  body 
are  also  employed  to  mediate  between  man  and  the  spu'it 
world ;  but  a  cruel  character  can  no  more  be  ascribed  to  the 
African  reb'gion,  as  a  whole,  on  such  grounds  as  these,  than 
cannibalism  can  be  imputed  to  the  whoje  African  family, 
because  human  flesh  is  eaten  in  one  or  two  places  in  Africa. 

The  idea  of  witchcraft  flows  naturally  from  their  religious 
belief:  The  eyil-disposed  may,  by  a  knowledge  of  the  bark 
and  roots  of  plants,  inflict  disaster.  A  horn,  or  rude  image,  is 
sometimes  made  use  of  as  a  means  of  preserving  the  medi- 
cines of  defence,  and  is  worn  as  an  amulet  These  images, 
horns/ or  other  articles,  called  greegrees,  or  jeujeus,  are  not 
held  sacred  for  a  moment  after  the  medicine  is  found  to  have 
lost  its  power;  and  mere  idol- worship,  which  they  seem  to  indi- 
cate, is  as  much  ignored  among  the  natives,  as  the  worship  of 
pictures  and  images  is  asserted  to  be  in  the  churches  of  the 
more  enlightened.  A  greegree,  or  fetish,  is  thrown  away  as 
useless  as  soon  as  the  consecrating  nostrum  is  discovered  to 
be  inoperative  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  procured.  On 
this  subject  Mr.  Wilson,  whom  we  have  quoted  before,  gives 
much  information,  which,  from  observation  elsewhere,  we  have 
found  to  be  the  fruit  of  accurate  personal  investigation. 

In  our  course  westwards,  we  at  first  passed  over  a 
gently  undulating  country,  with  a  reddish  clayey  soil, 
which,  from  the  heavy  crops,  appeared  to  be  very  fertile. 
Many  rivulets  were  crossed,  some  running  southwards  into 
the  Bua,  and  others  northwards  into  the  Loangwa,  a  river 
which  we  formerly  saw  flowing  into  the  Lake.  Further  on, 
the  water  was  chiefly  found  in  pools  and  wells.  Then  still 
further,  in  the  same  direction,  some  watercourses  were  said 
to  flow  into  that  same  "  Loangwa  of  the  Lake,"  and  others 
into  the  Loangwa,  which  flows  to  the  south-west,  and  enters 
the  Zambesi  at  Zumbo,  and  is  here  called  the  '^Loangwa 


524  FILING  THE  TEETH.  Chap.  XXV. 

of  the  Maravi."  The  trees  were  in  general  scraggy,  and 
covered,  exactly  as  they  are  in  the  damp  climate  of  the  Coast, 
with  lichens,  resembling  orchilla-weed.  The  maize,  which 
loves  rather  a  damp  soil,  had  been  planted  on  ridges  to  allow 
the  superfluous  mqisture  to  run  off.  Everything  indicated  a 
very  humid  climate,  and  the  people  warned  us  that,  as  the 
rains  were  near,  we  were  likely  to  be  prevented  from  return- 
ing by  the  country  becoming  flooded  and  impassabla 

Villages,  as  usual  encircled  by  euphorbia  hedges,  were 
numerous,  and  a  great  deal  of  grain  had  been  cultivated 
around  them.  Domestic  fowls,  in  plenty,  and  pigeons  with 
dovecots  like  those  in  Egypt  were  seen.  The  people  call 
themselves  Matumboka,  but  the  only  difference  between 
them  and  the  rest  of  the  Manganja  is  in  the  mode  of  tat* 
tooing  the  face.  Their  language  is  the  same.  Their  d]s> 
tinctive  mark  consists  of  four  tattooed  lines  diverging  from 
the  point  between  the  eyebrows,  which,  in  frowning,  the 
muscles  form  into  a  furrow.  The  other  lines  of  tattooing,  as 
in  all  Manganja,  run  in  loug  seams,  which  crossing  each  other 
at  certain  angles  form  a  great  number  of  triangular  spaoes  on 
the  breast,  back,  arms,  and  thighs.  The  cuticle  is  divided  by 
a  knife,  and  the  edges  of  the  incision  are  drawn  apart  till  the 
true  skin  appears.  By  a  repetition  of  this  process,  lines  of 
raised  cicatrices  are  formed,  which  are  thought  to  give 
beauty,  no  matter  how  much  pain  the  fashion  gives. 

The  teeth  here,  as  also  among  the  Babisa,  are  filed  to 
points ;  other  Manganja  notch  each  of  the  upper  fore-teeth 
by  means  of  small  quartz  stones:  the  notch  in  some  is 
angular,  in  others  round ;  this  latter  style  gives  the  edges  d 
the  upper  front  teeth  a  semilunar  shape ;  other  tribes  make 
an  opening  of  a  triangular  shape  between  the  central  front 
teeth.  It  is  surprising  that  the  filing  and  chipping  which 
the  teeth  undergo,  that  the  possessor  may  be  in  the  fashion, 


Chap.  XXV.  SUPREMACY  OF  FIREARMS.  525 

do  not  produce  toothache,  as  is  the  case  with  us  when  a  piece 
is  chipped  off  by  accident.  But  teeth  here  are  more  solid,  and 
often  wear  down  to  the  gums  in  old  persons  without  decay, 
like  those  found  in  Egyptian  mummies.  A  phrase  used  to 
express  a  very  aged  peirson  is,  '^  that  he  lived  so  long  that  his 
gums  and  teeth  were  worn  quite  smooth  together."  Cases  of 
toothache  are  not  at  all  uncommon  nevertheless,  though  pro- 
bably not  so  usually  met  with  as  among  ourselves.  This 
abuse  of  the  fine  teeth,  which  they  possess  by  nature,  is 
common  among  both  sexes.  They  delight  also  in  wearing 
the  hair  so  as  to  give  the  head  the  appearance  of  being  pro- 
longed backwards  and  upwards.  The  Babisa  are  partial  to 
making  their  locks  into  the  form  of  a  dragoon's  helmet. 

It  would  not  be  worth  while  to  advert  for  a  moment  to  the 
routine  of  travelling,  or  the  little  difficulties  that  beset  every 
one  who  attempts  to  penetrate  into  a  new  country,  were  it 
not  to  show  the  great  source  of  the  power  here  possessed  by 
slave-traders.  We  needed  help  in  carrying  our  goods,  while 
our  men  were  ill,  though  stiU  able  to  marcL  When  we  had 
settled  with  others  for  hire,  we  were  often  told,  that  the 
dealers  in  m^i  had  taken  possession  of  some,  and  had  taken 
them  away  altogether.  Other  things  led  us  to  believe  that 
the  slave-traders  carry  matters  with  a  high  hand;  and  no 
wonder,  for  the  possession  of  gimpowder  gives  them  almost 
absolute  power.  The  mode  by  which  tribes  armed  with  bows 
and  arrows  carry  on  warfare,  or  defend  themselves,  is  by 
ambuscade.  They  never  come  out  in  open  fight,  but  wait  for 
the  enemy  ensconced  behind  trees,  or  in  the  long  grass  of  the 
country,  and  shoot  at  him  unawares.  Consequently,  if  men 
come  against  them  with  firearms,  when,  as  is  usually  the 
case,  the  long  grass  is  all  burned  off,  the  tribe  attacked  are  as 
helpless,  as  a  wooden  ship,  possessing  only  signal  guns,  would 
be  before  an  iron-clad  steamer.     The  time  of  year  selected  for 


526  MUAZI  IN  KASUNGU.  Chap.  XXV. 

this  kind  of  warfare  is  nearly  always  that  in  which  the  grass 
is  actually  burnt  off,  or  is  so  dry  as  readily  to  take  fire.  The 
dry  grass  in  Africa  looks  more  like  ripe  English  wheat  late  in 
the  autumn,  than  anything  else  we  can  compare  it  ta  Let  us 
imagine  an  English  Tillage  standing  in  a  field  of  this  sort, 
bounded  only  by  the  horizon,  and  enemies  setting  fire  to  a 
line  of  a  mile  or  two,  by  running  along  with  bunches  of 
burning  straw  in  their  hands,  touching  here  and  there  the 
inflammable  material, — the  wind  blowing  towards  the  doomed 
village — ^the  inhabitants  with  only  one  or  two  old  muskets, 
but  ten  to  one  no  powder, — the  long  line  of  flames,  leaping 
thirty  feet  into  the  air  with  dense  masses  of  black  smoke— 
and  pieces  of  charred  grass  falling  down  in  showers.  Would 
not  the  stoutest  English  villager,  armed  only  with  the  bow 
and  arrow  against  the  enemy's  musket,  quail  at  the  idea  of 
breaking  through  that  wall  of  fire  ?  When  at  a  distance,  we 
once  saw  a  scene  like  this,  and  had  the  charred  grass,  literally 
as  thick  as  flakes  of  black  snow,  fidling  around  us,  there  was 
no  difficulty  in  understanding  the  secret  of  the  slave-trader's 
power. 

On  the  21st  of  September,  we  arrived  at  the  village  o[  the 
Chief  Muasi,  or  Muazi ;  it  is  surrounded  by  a  stockade,  ^id 
embowered  in  very  tall  euphorbia-trees ;  their  height,  thirty 
or  forty  feet,  shows  that  it  has  been  inhabited  for  at  least 
one  generation.  A  visitation  of  disease  or  death  causes  the 
headmen  to  change  the  site  of  their  villages,  and  plant  new 
hedges ;  but,  though  Muazi  has  suffered  from  the  attacks  of 
the  Mazitu,  he  has  evidently  clung  to  his  birthplace.  The 
village  is  situated  about  two  miles  south-west  of  a  high  hill 
called  Easungu,  which  gives  the  name  to  a  district  extending 
to  the  Loangwa  of  the  Maravi.  Several  other  detached  granite 
hills  have  been  shot  up  on  the  plain,  and  many  stockaded 
villages,  all  owing  allegiance  to  Muazi,  are  scattered  over  it. 


Chap.  XXV.  MEASURING  CLOTH.  527 

On  our  arrival,  the  Chief  was  sittmg  in  the  smooth  shady- 
place,  called  Boalo,  where  all  public  business  is  transacted, 
with  abont  two  hundred  men  and  boys  around  him.  We  paid 
our  guides  with  due  ostentation.  Masiko,  the  tallest  of 
our  party,  measured  off  the  fathom  of  cloth  agreed  upon,  and 
made  it  appear  as  long  as  possible,  by  &cing  round  to  the 
crowd,  and  cutting  a  few  inches  beyond  what  his  outstretched 
arms  could  reach,  to  show  that  there  was  no  deceptiou.  This 
was  by  way  of  adyertisement  The  people  are  mightily  grati- 
fied at  having  a  tall  fellow  to  measure  the  cloth  for  them. 
It  pleases  them  even  better  than  cutting  it  by  a  tape-line — 
though  very  few  men  of  six  feet  high  can  measure  off  their 
own  length  with  their  outstretched  arms.  Here,  where  Arab 
traders  have  been,  the  cubit  called  mohono^  or  elbow,  begins 
to  take  the  place  of  the  fathom  in  use  further  south.  The 
measure  is  taken  from  &e  point  of  the  bent  elbow  to  the 
end  of  the  middle  finger. 

We  found,  on  visiting  Muazi  on  the  following  day,  that  he 
was  as  frank  and  straightforward  as  could  reasonably  be 
expected.  He  did  not  wish  us  to  go  to  the  N.N.W.,  because 
he  carries  on  a  considerable  trade  in  ivory  there.  We  were 
anxious  to  get  off  the  slave  route,  to  people  not  visited  before 
by  traders ;  but  Muazi  naturally  feared,  that  if  we  went  to 
what  is  said  to  be  a  well-watered  country,  abounding  in 
elephants,  we  might  relieve  him  of  the  ivory  which  he  now 
obtains  at  a  cheap  rate,  and  sells  to  the  slave-traders  as 
they  pass  Kasungu  to  the  east ;  but  at  last  he  consented, 
warning  us  that  "great  difficulty  would  be  experienced  in 
obtaining  food — a  district  had  been  depopulated  by  slave 
wars — and  a  night  or  two  must  be  spent  in  it;  but  he 
would  give  us  good  guides,  who  would  go  three  days  with 
us,  before  turning,  and  then  further  progress  must  depend 
on  ourselves."    Some  of  our  men  having  been  ill  ever  since 


528  A  FLAT  COUNTBT.  Chaf.  XXV. 

we  mounted  tliu  highland  plain,  we  remained  two  days  with 
MuazL 

A  herd  of  fine  cattle  showed  that  no  tsetse  existed  in  the 
district.  They  had  the  Indian  hump,  and  were  very  fat,  and 
very  tame.  The  boys  rode  on  both  cows  and  bulls  with- 
out fear,  and  the  animals  were  so  takt  and  lazy,  that  the  dd 
ones  only  made  a  feeble  attempt  to  kick  their  young  tor* 
mentors.  Muazi  never  milks  the  cows ;  he  complained  that, 
but  for  the  Masitu  having  formerly  captured  some,  he  ahould 
now  have  had  very  many.  They  wander  over  the  country  at 
large,  and  certainly  thrive. 

Cotton-bushes  are  rarely  seen  along  the  slave  route ;  this  is 
not  from  soil  or  climate  being  unsuitable  for  them,  for  we 
passed  some  specimens  which  had  grown  well,  and  yielded 
cotton  of  superior  quality,  but  from  the  fact  that  the  people 
can  supply  their  wants  by  exchanging  grain  for  foreign  caUco, 
as  the  slave-traders  pass.  Many  of  these  highlanders  wear 
goatskins.  Though  they  have  plenty  of  fidod^  they  are  not 
eager  sellers.  They  are  accustomed  to  eager  purchasers  at 
a  very  high  rate. 

After  leaving  Muazi's,  we  passed  over  a  flat  country  sparsely 
covered  with  the  S(sraggy  upland  trees,  but  brightened  with 
many  fine  flowers.  The  grass  was  short,  reaching  no  higher 
than  the  knee,  and  growing  in  tufts  with  bare  spaces  between, 
though  the  trees  were  draped  with  many  various  lichens, 
and  showed  a  moist  climate.  A  high  and  very  shaip  wind 
blew  over  the  flats ;  its  piercing  keenness  was  not  caused  by 
low  temperature,  for  the  thermometer  stood  at  80^. 

We  now  began  to  notice  a  very  curious  circumstance. 
Wherever  a  Manganja  village  was  fdaced,  a  Babisa  one  was 
sure  to  appear  in  the  vicinity.  The  former  are  the  owners 
of  the  soil,  but  the  latter  did  not  seem  to  be  considered 
intrudeis.    Indeed,  the  uncultivated  tracts  are  so  large,  that 


Chap.  XXV.  RAINS.  629 

it  would  scarcely  occur  to  a  people,  who  have  few  or  no  cattle 
or  goats,  to  quarrel  about  land  which  they  cannot  use  them- 
selves. The  shallow  valleys,  along  the  sides  of  which  the 
villages  were  dotted,  have,  at  certain  times  of  the  year,  rivers 
running  through  them,  which  at  this  time  formed  only  a 
succefision  of  pools,  with  boggy  and  sedgy  spaces  between. 
When  the  sun  is  vertical  oyer  any  part  in  the  tropics  on 
his  way  south,  the  first  rains  begin  to  fall,  and  the  eflfect  of 
these,  though  copious,  is  usually  only  to  fill  the  bogs  and 
pools.  When,  on  his  way  north,  he  again  comes  over  the 
same  part,  we  have  the  great  rains  of  the  year,  and  the  pools 
and  bogs,  being  already  filled,  overflow,  and  produce  the  great 
floods  which  mark  the  Zambesi,  and  probably  in  the  same 
manner  cause  the  inundations  of  the  Nile.  The  luxuriant 
vegetation  which  the  partial  desiccation  of  many  of  these 
rivers  annually  allows  to  grow,  protects  their  bottoms  and 
banks  from  abrasion,  and  hence  the  comparative  clearness 
of  their  water  in  the  greater  floods.  We  were  now  on  the 
sources  of  the  Loangwa  of  the  Maravi,  which  enters  the 
Zambesi  at  Zumbo,  and  were  struck  by  the  great  resem- 
blance which  the  boggy  and  sedgy  streams  here  presented 
to  the  sources  of  the  Leeba,  an  affluent  of  the  Zambesi 
formerly  observed  in  Londa,  and  of  the  £asai,  which  some 
believe  to  be  the  principal  branch  of  the  Congo  or  Zaire. 

The  first  or  lesser  rains  take  place  in  this  region  in 
November,  when  the  sun  is  vertical,  going  south.  The  greater 
rains  fall  in  January,  February,  and  March,  when  he  is  on  his 
way  back  to  the  Equator.  Suppoi^ng  our  observation  of  the 
cause  of  inundating  floods  in  south  intertropical  Airica  to 
be  applicable  to  the  north  intertropical  district,  the  pooU, 
bogs,  and  rivers  there  might  be  expected  to  fill,  when  the 
sun  became  vertical,  on  his  way  south,  and  overflow  on  his 
return.    But  this  must  be  decided  on  the  spot    We  know  from 

2  M 


530  SOURCE  OF  MOISTURE.  Chap,  XXV. 

the  observBtiong  made  for  a  nmnber  of  years  at  Loaiida» 
by  the  late  Edmund  Gabriel,  that  the  same  rule  as  to  rain- 
fall, which  we  have  noticed  from  12*^  to  20°  south,  applies 
in  the  eighth  degree  from  the  Equator. 

The  great  source  of  the  supply  of  moisture  for  South 
Africa  is  undoubtedly  the  Indian  Ocean.  The  prevailing  winds 
are  from  the  east  or  south-east.  Laden  with  moisture  from 
this  great  reservoir,  the  air  s\yeeps  up  the  coast-ranges,  and 
cooling  in  its  passive  over,  deposits  the  chief  portion  of  its 
aqueous  vapour  on  the  heights.  Passing  westwards,  it  is  now 
the  dry  air  that  floats,  during  most  of  the  year,  as  an  east,  or 
east-south-east  wind,  over  the  Kalahari  Desert,  and  other  arid 
plains.  That  this  view  is  correct  appears  evident  from  the 
facts,  that  where  no  coast-range,  or  only  a  low  one,  exists  ihe 
central  region  is  not  so  devoid  of  moisture,  as  it  is  where^  as 
in  the  case  of  the  Drakensberg,  the  air  must  rise  upwards  of  a 
mile  in  perpendicular  height,  before  it  can  reach  the  plains 
beyond ;  and  that  wherever  hills  in  the  interior  rise  higher 
than  those  near  the  coast,  their  tops  are  covered  with  vegeta- 
tion different  from  that  on  the  plains  below  them,  and 
requiring  a  more  abundant  supply  of  moisture.  This  is  seen 
even  on  the  hiUs  close  to  the  E^alahari  Desert ;  and  on  other 
mountain-tops  many  species  of  ferns  and  some  peppers 
flourish,  which  are  never  met  with  at  lower  altitudes. 

As  we  approach  nearer  the  Equator,  the  south-west  winds 
from  the  Atlantic,  robbed  of  their  moisture  by  the  western 
slopes,  prevail  for  a  certain  distance  into  the  continent, 
and  probably  meet  the  sovth-easterly  breezes  from  the  Indian 
Ocean.  Whether  this  meeting  produces  a  greater  amount 
of  rainfall  on  the  Line  than  elsewhere,  as  has  be^i 
asserted,  appears  to  require  eonfirmation^  Theoretically,  the 
confluence  of  dry  winds  under  the  Equator,  would  be  followed 
by  an  upward  and  overlapping  motion  of  the  currents  to  the 


Chap.  XXV.  THE  WATERSHED.  531 

north  or  south.  But  a  hot,  dry  north  wind  is  quite  excep- 
tional on  the  Kalahari  Desert,  and  lasts  usually  but  three 
days  at  a  time.  The  chief  supply  for  the  South  African 
rainfall  comes  from  the  Indian  Ocean  to  the  south-east,  in 
the  same  way  that  at  a  later  period  of  the  year  the  south- 
west monsoon  takes  refreshing  rains  from  the  same  great 
reservoir  to  the  plains  of  India. 

We  had  taken  pains  to  ascertain  from  the  travelled  Babisa 
and  Arabs  as  much  as  possible  about  the  country  in  front, 
which,  from  the  lessening  time  we  had  at  our  disposal,  we 
feared  we  could  scarcely  reach,  and  had  heard  a  good  deal 
of  a  small  lake  called  Bemba.  As  we  proceeded  west,  we 
passed  over  the  sources  not  only  of  the  Loangwa,  but  of 
another  stream,  called  Moitawa  or  Moitala,  which  was  repre- 
sented to  be  the  main  feeder  of  Lake  Bemba.  This  would  be 
of  little  importance,  but  for  the  fact  that  the  considerable  river 
Luapula,  or  Loapula,  is  said  to  flow  out  of  Bemba  to  the  west- 
ward, and  then  to  spread  out  into  another  and  much  larger 
lake,  named  Moero,  or  Moelo.  Flowing  still  further  in  the 
same  direction,  the  Loapula  forms  Lake  Mofue,  or  Mofu,  and 
after  this  it  is  said  to  pass  the  tox^n  of  Cazembe,  bend  to 
the  north,  and  enter  Lake  Tanganyika.  Whither  the  water 
went  after  it  entered  the  last  lake,  no  one  would  ven- 
ture an  assertion.  But  that  the  course  indicated  is  the 
true  watershed  of  that  part  of  the  country,  we  believe  from 
the  imvarying  opinion  of  native  travellers.  There  could  be 
no  doubt  that  our  informants  had  been  in  the  country  beyond 
Cazembe's,  for  they  knew  and  described  Chiefs  whom  we  after- 
wards met  about  thirty-five  or  forty  miles  west  of  his  town. 
The  Lualaba  is  said  to  flow  into  the  Loapula — and  when,  for 
the  sake  of  testing  the  accuracy  of  the  travelled,  it  was  asserted 
that  aU  the  water  of  the  region  round  the  town  of  Cazembe 
flowed  into  the  Luambadzi,  or  Luambezi  (Zambesi),  they 

2  K  2 


532  NATIVE  GEOGRAPHY.  Chap.  XXV. 

remarked  with  a  smile,  '^He  says,  that  the  Loapula  flows 
into  the  Zambesi — did  you  ever  hear  such  nonsense  ?"  or  words 
to  that  effect.  We  were  forced  to  admit,  that  according  to 
natiye  accounts,  our  previous  impression  of  the  Zambesi's 
draining  the  country  about  Cazembe's  had  been  a  mistake. 
Their  geographical  opinions  are  now  only  stated,  without  any 
further  comment  than  that  the  itinerary  given  by  the  Arabs 
and  others  shows  that  the  Loapula  is  twice  crossed  on  the 
way  to  Cazembe's;  and  we  may  add  that  we  have  never 
found  any  difficulty  from  the  alleged  incapacity  of  the  n^ro 
to  tell  which  way  a  river  flows. 

The  boiling-point  of  water  showed  a  descent,  from  the  edge 
of  the  plateau  to  our  furthest  point  west,  of  170  feet ;  but 
this  can  only  be  considered  as  an  approximation,  and  no  de- 
pendance  could  have  been  placed  on  it,  had  we  not  had  the 
courses  of  the  streams  to  confirm  this  rather  rough  mode  of 
ascertaining  altitudes.  The  slope,  as  shown  by  the  watershed, 
was  to  the  ''  Loangwa  of  the  Maravi,"  and  towards  the  Moitala, 
or  south-west,  west,  and  north-west  After  we  leave  the  feeders 
of  Lake  Nyassa,  the  water  drains  towards  the  centre  of  the 
continent  The  course  of  the  Easai,  a  river  seen  during  Dr. 
Livingstone's  journey  to  the  West  Coast,  and  its  feeders 
was  to  the  north-east,  or  somewhat  in  the  same  direction. 
Whether  the  water  thus  drained  off  finds  its  way  out  by  the 
Congo,  or  by  the  Nile,  has  not  yet  been  ascertained.  Some 
parts  of  the  continent  have  been  said  to  resemble  an  inverted 
dinner-plate.  This  portion  seems  more  c^  the  shape,  if  shape 
it  has,  of  a  wide-awake  hat,  with  the  crown  a  little  depressed. 
The  altitude  of  the  brim  in  some  parts  is  considerable ;  in 
others,  as  at  Tette  and  the  bottom  of  Murchison's  Cataracts, 
it  is  so  small  that  it  could  be  ascertained  only  by  elimina- 
ting the  daily  variations  of  the  barometer,  by  simultaneous 
observations  on  the  Coast,  and  at  points  some  two  or  three 


CHij.  XXV.  INDIA  AND  AFRICA.  633 

hundred  miles  inland.  So  long  as  AMcan  rivers  remain 
in  what  we  may  call  the  brim,  they  present  no  obstruc- 
tions; but  no  sooner  do  they  emerge  from  the  higher  lands 
than  their  utility  is  impaired  by  cataracts.  The  low  lying 
belt  is  very  irregular.  At  times  sloping  up  in  the  manner  of 
the  rim  of  an  inverted  dinner-plate — while  in  other  cases, 
a  high  ridge  rises  near  the  sea,  to  be  succeeded  by  a  lower 
district  inland  before  we  reach  the  central  plateau.  The 
breadth  of  the  low  lands  is  sometimes  as  much  as  three 
hundred  miles,  and  that  breadth  determines  the  limits  of 
navigation  from  the  seaward. 

The  ascent  to  the  Maravi  country,  and  all  along  from 
the  west  shore  of  the  lake  for  at  least  three  hundred 
miles  on  the  same  meridian  of  longitude,  is,  as  we  sub- 
sequently found,  simply  what  Indians  call  a  ghaut,  like 
that  on  the  way  from  Bombay  to  Poonah.  The  African 
ghaut  from  the  west  coast  of  the  lake,  which  is  1800  feet 
above  the  sea,  rises  as  high  above  our  point  of  starting 
here,  as  the  Indian  one  does  from  the  level  of  the  sea 
at  Bombay.  *The  African  Deccan  is  a  little  higher  and 
cooler  than  the  Indian  one  is  at  Poonah.  The  African 
huts  resemble  the  native  Indian  ones  near  Dapoore,  but 
are  much  better  built;  in  the  possession  of  the  plough, 
the  Indians  have  the  advantage  over  the  Africans,  though 
both  cultivate  very  nearly  the  same  grain.  The  soil  and 
general  appearance  of  the  country,  trees,  nullahs,  rivers, 
and  undulating  plains,  are  remarkably  alike  in  both  the 
African  and  Indian  Deccan.  But,  in  Africa,  we  see  patches 
of  fine  long-stapled  cotton,  nearly  equal  to  the  Egyptian, 
instead  of  the  miserable  stuff  grown  in  India.  The  contrast 
between  the  two  countries,  however,  is  very  striking.  In 
India,  the  evidences  of  human  labour  are  everywhere  apparent 
in  loads,  bridges,  stone  walls,  ruins  of  temples,  and  palaces. 


634  FOSSILS.  Chap.  XXV* 

In  Africa,  the  whole  country  looks,  for  all  that  man  has  done, 
just  as  it  did  when  it  came  from  the  hands  of  its  Maker. 
The  only  roads  are  footpaths  worn  by  the  feet  of  the  natives 
into  hollows  a  few  inches  deep,  and  about  fifteen  or  eighteen 
inches  wide,  winding  from  village  to  village,  as  if  made  by 
believers  in  the  curved  line  being  that  of  beauty,  or  by 
people  who  had  already  attained  that  state  of  competence 
to  which  we  all  aspire,  when  we  may  toddle  round  our 
own  little  wavy  walks  without  hurry.  The  huts  built 
here  have  no  ruins,  except  when  they  are  burned,  and 
then  a  thin  layer  of  the  red  clay,  with  which  they  were 
plastered,  and  the  impressions  of  the  reeds  which  formed 
the  walls,  remain  with  the  colour  and  consistence  of  soft 
bricks.  But  these  soon  moulder  away;  the  only  durable 
monuments  to  be  met  with,  are  mill-stones,  worn  in  the 
middle  a  couple  of  inches  or  more  in  depth;  and  cairns 
in  the  passes  of  the  mountains,  of  which  tradition  has  no 
record,  but  the  salutation  addressed  to  them  — ^^  Hail  I  O 
Chief — let  it  be  well  with  us  in  the  country  to  which  we 
are  going ! " — ^may  mean,  that  they  are  supposed  to  be  the 
resting-places  of  departed  Chieik 

It  is  a  very  remarkable  fact,  that  while  in  many  parts  of 
the  world  the  stone,  bronze,  and  iron  instruments  of  men  who 
have  passed  away  have  been  found,  no  flint  arrow-heads, 
spears,  axes,  or  other  implements  of  this  kind,  as  far  as  we 
can  ascertain,  have  ever  been  discovered  in  Africa.  Dr.  Kirk, 
while  botanizing  in  the  Delta  of  the  Zambesi,  came  upon  a  bed 
of  gravel,  in  which  the  fossil  bones  of  nearly  all  the  animals 
now  living  in  the  country,  as  hippopotami,  wild  hogs,  buffaloes, 
antelopes,  turtles,  crocodiles,  and  hyenas,  were  associated  with 
pottery  of  the  same  nature  and  ornamental  designs,  as  that 
now  in  common  use  by  the  inhabitants.  Similar  animal 
remains  were  observed  in  a  bed  of  gravel  in  the  Zambesi  in. 


Chap.  XXV.  THE  OLDEST  CONTINENT.  535 

1856,  and  now,  in  1863,  in  the  sand  on  the  shores  of  Lake 
Nyassa,  pottery  was  found,  with  bnffalo  and  other  large 
bones;  but  in  no  case  have  we  found  a  specimen  of  the 
weapons  with  which  these  animals  may  have  been  killed  for 
human  food. 

In  attempting  to  decipher  the  testimony  of  the  rocks 
in  the  Lake  and  other  regions  of  southern  Airica,  it  had 
always  been  a  sore  puzzle,  that  few  or  none  of  the  r^ular 
geological  series,  as  described  in  books,  could  be  made 
out  The  absence  of  marine  limestone,  and  the  evidences  of 
the  oscillations  of  land  and  sea,  which  are -so  common  in 
other  countries,  baflfled  our  unaided  inquiries.  No  chalk  nor 
flints  were  ever  met  with.  The  nearest  resemblance  to  the 
cretaceous  strata^  were  inmiense  flat  masses  of  calcareous 
tufa,  and  this,  from  the  impressions  of  reeds  and  leaves  of  the 
same  kind  as  those  now  growing  in  the  vicinity,  was  evidently 
a  deposit  fix)m  land  springs,  which  formerly  flowed  much  more 
copiously  than  at  the  present  day.  In  association  with  these 
tafaceous  deposits,  ferruginous  masses,  with  gravel  imbedded, 
were  observed,  having  all  the  appearance  of  the  same  origin 
as  the  tufa.  Coal  was  disooyered  in  sandstone,  and  that  had 
been  disturbed  only  by  the  undulations  of  local  igneous 
irruptions.  It  was  only  when  our  far-seeing  and  sagacious 
countryman,  Sir  Boderick  I.  Murchison,  collected  all  the 
rays  of  light  on  the  subject,  from  various  sources,  into  the 
focus  of  his  mind,  that  what  we  had  before  but  dimly  guessed, 
at  length  became  apparent.  Those  great  submarine  depres- 
sions and  elevations  which  have  so  largely  affected  Em-ope, 
Asia,  and  America,  during  the  secondary,  tertis^,  and  quasi" 
modem  periods,  have  not  affected  Africa.  In  fact,  Africa  is 
the  oldest  continent  in  the  world.  ''^  It  is  unquestionably  a 
grand  type  of  a  region  which  has  preserved  its  ancient  ter- 
restrial conditions  during  a  very  long  period,  unaffected  by 


636  THE  IRON  AGE,  Chap.  XXT. 

any  changes  except  those  which  are  dependent  on  atmo- 
spheric and  meteoric  influences."  ^ 

According  to  the  present  state  of  onr  knowledge,  the  Afri- 
cans neyer  had  a  stone  period.  The  proof  of  tliis  is  merely 
negatiye,  but  of  the  same  nature  as  the  eyidenoe,  that  while 
the  stone  period  lasted,  no  bronze  implements  were  in  use. 
And  it  does  seem  a  difficulty  worth  remarking,  that  while  it  is 
assumed  that,  in  ancient  times,  stone  for  lengthened  periods 
alone  was  in  use ;  we  have  the  eyidence  of  the  late  Admiral 
Fitzroy  (whose  recent  death — ^the  result  of  oyer  fatigue  in 
the  pursuit  of  his  yaluable  researches — ^all  so  greatly  lament), 
that  the  present  time  is  the  stone  period  in  Tierra  del  Fuego 
and  some  countries  whose  inhabitants  resemble  our  remote 
ancestors-*-and  in  other  parts  it  is  the  age  of  iron. 

It  is  possibly  only  a  display  of  ignorance,  but  we  trust  it 
will  not  be  imagined  to  be  a  proof  of  conceit,  when  some  of 
the  ideas,  which  beguiled  our  weary  marches,  are  put  forth  as 
materials  for  thought  in  younger  minds.  Here  at  eyery  third 
or  fourth  yillage,  we  see  a  kiln-looking  structure,  about  six  feet 
high,  by  two-and-a-half  or  three  feet  in  diameter.  It  is  a  day, 
fire-hardened  furnace,  for  smelting  iron,  No  flux  is  used, 
whether  the  specular  iron,  the  yellow  haematite,  or  magnetic 
iron  ore  is  fused,  and  yet  capital  metal  is  produced.  Natiye 
manufactured  iron  is  so  good,  that  the  natiyes  declare  English 
iron  to  be  '^rotten  "  in  comparison,  and  specimens  of  African 
hoes  were  pronounced  at  Birmingham  to  be  nearly  equal  to 
the  best  Swedish  iron.  As  we  passed  along,  men  sometimes 
ran  from  the  fields  they  were  working  in,  and  ofiered  for  sale 
new,  hoes,  axes,  and  spears  of  their  own  workmanship.  It  is 
certainly  the  iron  age  here ;  copper,  according  to  the  ideas 
of  the  natiyes  who  smelt  it  from  malachite,  is  much  more 


*  Address  to  the  Boyal  Geogra-  |  annivenaiy     meetmg;     23Td     May, 
phical  Society   of  London,  at   the  |  1864. 


Chap.  XXV.  MINUTE  TOPOGRAPHY,  537 

intractable  than  the  metal  from  ironstone^  which  needs  no 
flux ;  and  as  yet,  so  far  as  we  can  learn,  neither  tm  nor  zino 
has  ever  been  used  to  form  an  amalgam  with  copper  in  this 
country,  so  that  we  may  expect  the  bronze  age  to  come  in 
an  inverted  order.  Of  the  flint  age  as  applied  to  A&ica,  we 
are  compelled  to  doubt,  because  no  flints,  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  small  agates,  are  to  be  found  in  the  southern  parts 
of  the  continent  we  have  examined.  A  stone  period  might 
have  its  course  without  flints,  as  other  rocks  might  have 
been  used,  but  the  evidence  must  all  be  underground. 

We  made  three  long  marches  beyond  Muazi's  in  a  north- 
westerly direction ;  the  people  were  civil  enough,  but  refused  to 
sell  us  any  food.  We  were  travelUng  too  fast,  they  said ;  in  fact, 
they  were  startled,  and  before  they  recovered  their  surprise,  we 
were  obliged  to  depart.  We  suspected  that  Muazi  had  sent  them 
orders  to  refuse  us  food,  that  we  might  thus  be  prevented  from 
going  into  the  depopulated  district ;  but  this  may  have  been 
mere  suspicion,  the  result  of  our  own  uncharitable  feelings. 

We  spent  one  night  at  Machambwe's  village,  and  another 
at  Chimbuzi's.  It  is  seldom  that  we  can  find  the  headman  on 
first  entering  a  village.  He  gets  put  of  the  way  till  he  has 
heard  all  about  the  strangers,  or  he  is  actually  out  in  the 
fields  looking  after  his  farms.  We  once  thought  that  wheil 
the  headman  came  in  from  a  visit  of  inspection,  with  his  spear^ 
bow  and  arrows,  they  had  been  all  taken  up  for  the  occasion, 
and  that  he  had  all  the  while  been  hidden  in  some  hut  slily 
watching  till  he  heard  that  the  strangers  might  be  trusted ; 
but  on  listem'ng  to  the  details  given  by  these  men  of  the  ap- 
pearances of  the  crops  at  different  parts,  and  the  astonishing 
minuteness  of  the  speakers*  topography,  we  were  persuaded 
that  in  some  cases  we  were  wrong,  and  felt  rather  humiliated. 
Every  knoU,  hill,  mountain,  and  every  peak  on  a  range  has  a 
name ;  and  so  has  every  watercourse,  dell,  and  plain.    In  facti 


638  NATIVE  LANGUAGE.  Chap.  XXV. 

every  feature  and  portion  of  the  country  is  so  minutely  distin- 
guished by  appropriate  names,  that  it  would  take  a  lifetime  to 
decipher  their  meaning.  It  is  not  the  want,  but  the  super- 
abundance of  names  that  misleads  travellers,  and  the  terms 
used  are  so  multifarious  that  good  scholars  will  at  times  scarcely 
know  more  than  the  subject  of  conversation.  Though  it  is  a 
little  apart  from  the  topic  of  the  attention  which  the  headm^i 
pay  to  agriculture,  yet  it  may  be  here  mentioned,  while  speak- 
ing of  the  fulness  of  the  language,  that  we  have  heard  about 
a  score  of  words  to  indicate  different  varieties  of  gait— one 
walks  leaning  forward,  or  backward,  swaying  from  side  to 
side,  loungingly,  or  smartly,  swaggeringly,  swinging  the  arms^ 
or  only  one  arm,  head  down  or  up,  or  otherwise ;  each  of 
these  modes  of  walking  was  expressed  by  a  particular  verb; 
and  more  words  were  used  to  designate  the  different  Yaiieties 
of  fools  than  we  ever  tried  to  count 

Mr.  Moffat  has  translated  the  whole  Bible  into  the  language 
of  the  Bechuana,  and  has  diligently  studied  this  tongue  for 
the  last  forty-four  years ;  and,  though  knowing  far  more  of  the 
language  than  any  of  the  natives  who  have  been  reared  on 
the  Mission-station  of  Euruman,  he  does  not  pretend  to  have 
mastered  it  fully  even  yet  However  copious  it  may  be  in  terms 
of  which  we  do  not  feel  the  necessity,  it  is  poor  in  others,  as  in 
abstract  terms,  and  words  used  to  describe  mental  operations. 

Our  third  day's  march  ended  in  the  afternoon  of  the 
27th  September,  1863,  at  the  village  of  Chinanga  on 
the  banks  of  a  branch  of  tlie  Loangwa.  A  large,  rounded 
mass  of  granite,  a  thousand  feet  high,  called  Nornherum^ 
stands  on  the  plain  a  few  miles  offl  It  is  quite  remarkable, 
because  it  has  so  little  vegetation  on  it  Several  other  granitic 
hills  stand  near  it,  ornamented  with  trees,  like  most  heights 
of  this  country,  and  a  heap  of  blue  mountains  appears  away 
in  the  north. 


Chap.  XXVI.  REASONS  FOB  RETURNING.  639 


CHAPTEB  XXVI. 

Beasons  for  returning — Despatch  from  H.  M.*8  Government  —  A  thief — 
African  women  rarely  address  strangers — Employments  of  women — Grind- 
ing com  —  Brewing  beer  —  Drinking-bonts. 

The  eflfect  of  the  piercing  winds  upon  the  men  had  never 
been  got  rid  of.  Several  had  been  unable  to  carry  a  load 
ever  since  we  ascended  to  the  highlands ;  we  had  lost  one, 
and  another  poor  lad  was  so  ill  as  to  cause  us  great  anxiety. 
By  waiting  in  this  village,  which  was  so  old  that  it  was  lull 
of  vermin,  all  became  worse.  Our  European  food  was  entirely 
expended,  and  native  meal,  though  finely  ground,  has  so 
many  sharp  angular  particles  in  it,  that  it  brought  back 
dysentery,  from  which  we  had  suffered  so  much  in  May.  We 
could  scarcely  obtain  food  for  the  men.  The  headman  of 
this  village  of  Chinanga  was  off  in  a  foray  against  some 
people  further  north  to  supply  slaves  to  the  traders  expected 
along  the  slave  route  we  had  just  left;  and  was  said,  after 
having  expelled  the  inhabitants,  to  be  living  in  their 
stockade,  and  devouring  their  com.  The  conquered  tribe 
had  purchased  what  was  called  a  peace  by  presenting  the 
conqneror  with  three  women. 

This  state  of  matters  afforded  us  but  a  poor  prospect  of 
finding  more  provisions  in  that  direction  than  we  could 
with  great  difficulty  and  at  enomous  prices  obtain  here. 
But  neither  want  of  food,  -dysentery,  nor  slave  wars  would 
have  prevented  our  working  our  way  round  the  Lake  in  some 
other  direction,  had  we  had  time ;  but  we  had  received  orders 
from  the  Foreign  Ojffice  to  take  the  Koneer  down  to  the  sea 
in  the  previous  April.    The  salaries  of  all  the  men  in  her 


540  DESPATCH  FROM  GOVERNMENT.     Chap.  XXVI. 

were  positively  **  in  any  case  to  cease  by  the  Slat  of  De- 
cember." The  despatch  fipom  the  Foreign  OflSce  having  been 
sent  open  to  the  Grovemor  of  the  Cape,  it  seems  to  have  been 
forwarded  in  the  same  free  and  easy  way  to  its  destination ; 
for  the  new  Bishop's  chaplain  had  commented  freely  before 
a  number  of  Portnguese,  Dr.  Kirk,  and  Mr.  Charles  LiTing- 
stone,  at  Quillimane,  on  its  different  paragraphs,  and  m(Hie 
especially  on  the  omission  of  all  notice  of  the  Lady  Nyassa. 
When  his  servant  brought  it  up  to  the  Pioneer,  he  hailed 
the  crew  in  strong  Surrey  dialect  with,  "  I  say,  no  more  pay 
for  you  chaps  after  December.  I  brings  the  letter  as  says  it" 
Though  we  never  for  a  single  moment  entertained  the  idea 
that  this  grossly  disrespectful  way  of  treating  a  despatch 
from  H.  M.  Principal  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Afiaiis 
was  anything  more  than  the  result  of  want  of  knowledge  of 
the  world  on  the  part  of  those  who  had  probably  nev^  in 
their  lives  seen  a  Government  despatch  before,  yet  the  con- 
viction that  all  the  Pioneer's  men  knew  that  their  wages 
might  not  be  forthcoming,  if  we  were  in  the  river  after 
December,  had  some  influence  on  a  mind  borne  down  by 
that  most  depressing  of  diseases,  dysentery.  We  were  said 
to  be  only  ten  days*  distant  from  Lake  Bemba.  We  might 
speculate  on  a  late  rise  of  the  river.  A  month  or  six  weeks 
would  secure  a  geographical  feat,  but  the  rains  were  near. 
We  had  been  warned  by  different  people  that  the  rains  were 
close  at  hand,  and  that  we  should  then  be  bogged  and  unable 
to  travel.  The  flood  in  the  river  might  be  an  early  one,  or 
so  small  in  volume  as  to  give  but  one  chance  of  the  Pioneer 
descending  to  the  ocean.  The  Makololo  too  were  becoming 
dispirited  by  sickness  and  want  of  food,  and  were  naturally 
anxious  to  be  back  to  their  fields  in  time  for  sowing. 
But  in  addition  to  all  this  and  more,  it  was  felt  that  it  would 
not  be  dealing  honestly  with  the  Government,  were  we,  for 


Chap.  XXVI.  A  THIEF.  541 

the  sake  of  a  little  ^clat,  to  risk  the  detention  of  the 
Pioneer  up  the  river  during  another  year ;  so  we  decided 
to  return ;  and  though  we  had  afterwards  the  mortification  to 
find  that  we  were  detained  two  full  months  at  the  ship  wait- 
ing for  the  flood  which  we  expected  immediately  after  our 
.arriyal  there,  the  chagrin  was  lessened  by  a  consciousness  of 
haying  acted  in  a  fair,  honest,  above-board  manner  throughout. 

On  the  night  of  the  29th  of  September  a  thief  came  to  the 
sleeping-place  of  our  men  and  stole  a  leg  of  a  goat  On 
complaining  to  the  deputy  headman,  he  said  that  the  thief 
had  fled,  but  would  be  caught.  He  suggested  a  fine,  and 
offered  a  fowl  and  her  eggs;  but  wishing  that  the  thief 
alone  should  be  punished,  it  was  advised  that  he  should  be 
found  and  fined.  The  Makololo  thought  it  best  to  take  the 
fowl  as  a  means  of  making  the  punishment  certain.  After 
settling  this  matter  on  the  last  day  of  September,  we  com- 
menced our  return  journey.  We  had  just  the  same  time  to  go 
back  to  the  ship,  that,  we  had  spent  in  coming  to  this  point, 
and  there  is  not  much  to  interest  one  in  marching  over  the 
same  ground  a  second  time. 

While  on  our  journey  north-west,  a  cheery  old  woman,  who 
had  once  been  beautiful,  but  whose  white  hair  now  contrasted 
strongly  with  her  dark  complexion,  was  working  briskly  in  her 
garden  as  we  passed.  She  seemed  to  enjoy  a  hale,  hearty  old 
age.  She  saluted  us  with  what  elsewhere  would  be  called  a 
good  address ;  and,  evidently  conscious  that  she  deserved  the 
epithet,  "  dark  but  comely,"  answered  each  of  us  with  a 
frank  **Yes,  my  child."  Another  motherly-looking  woman, 
sitting  by  a  well,  began  the  conversation  by  "  You  are 
going  to  visit  Muazi,  and  you  have  come  from  afar,  have  you 
not?"  But  in  general  women  never  speak  to  strangers 
unless  spoken  to,  so  anything  said  by  them  attracts  atten- 
tion.    Muazi  once  presented  us  with  a  basket  of  com.    On 


542  MUAZre  WIFE.  Chap,  XXVL 

hinting  that  we  had  no  wife  to  grind  our  com,  his  buxom 
spouse  struck  in  with  roguish  glee,  and  said,  "  I  will  grind 
it  for  you;  and  leave  Muazi,  to  accompany  and  cook  for 
you  in  the  land  of  the  setting  sun."  As  a  rule  the  women 
are  modest  and  retiring  in  their  demeanour,  and,  without 
being  oppressed  with  toil,  show  a  great  deal  of  industry. 
The  crops  need  about  eight  months'  attention.  Then  when 
the  harrest  is  home,  much  labour  is  required  to  convert  it 
into  food  as  porridge,  or  beer.  The  com  is  pounded  in  a 
large  wooden  mortar,  like  the  ancient  Egyptian  one,  with 
a  pestle  six  feet  long  and  about  four  inches  thick.  The 
pounding  is  performed  by  two  or  even  three  women  at  one 
mortar.  Each,  before  delivering  a  blow  with  her  pestle,  gives 
an  upward  jerk  of  the  body,  so  as  to  put  strength  into  the 
stroke,  and  they  keep  exact  time,  so  that  two  pestles  are 
never  in  the  mortar  at  the  same  moment.  The  measured 
thud,  thud,  thud,  and  the  women  standing  at  their  vigorous 
work,  are  associations  inseparable  from  a  prosperous  Afiican 
village.  By  the  operation  of  pounding,  with  the  aid  of  a 
little  water,  the  hard  outside  scale  or  husk  of  the  grain  is 
removed,  and  the  com  is  made  fit  for  the  millstone.  The 
meal  irritates  the  stomach  unless  cleared  &om  the  husk ;  with- 
out considerable  energy  in  the  operator,  the  husk  sticks  fast 
to  the  com,  Solomon  thought  that  still  more  vigour  than  is 
required  to  separate  the  hard  husk  or  bran  from  wheat  would 
fail  to  separate  **a  fool  from  his  folly.**  "Though  thou 
shouldst  bray  a  fool  in  a  mortar  among  wheat  with  a  pestle, 
yet  will  not  his  foolishness  depart  from  him."  The  rainbow, 
in  some  parts,  is  called  the  ^'  pestle  of  the  Barimo^"  or  gods. 
Boys  and  girls,  by  constant  practice  with  the  pestle,  m^  able 
to  plant  stakes  in  the  ground  by  a  somewhat  similar  action, 
in  erecting  a  hut,  so  deftly  that  they  never  miss  the  first  hole 
made. 


Chap.  XXTI.  EMPLOTUENTS  OF  WOMEN.  543 

Let  any  one  try  by  repeatedly  jobbing  a  pole  witli  all  his 
force  to  make  a  deep  hole  in  the  ground,  and  be  will  under- 
stand bow  difScult  it  ia  always  to  strike  it  into  tbe  same  spot 

As  we  were  sleeping  one  night  outside  a  hot,  but  near 
enough  to  bear  what  was  going  on  within,  an  anxious  mother 
began  to  grind  her  com  about  2  o'clock  in  tbe  momiDg. 
"Ma,"  inquired  a  little  girl,  "why  grind  in  tbe  dark?" 
Mamma  advised  sleep,  and  administered  material  for  a  sweet 
dream  to  her  darling,  by  saying,  "I  grind  meal  to  bny  a  cloth 
from  the  strangers,  wbicb  will  make  yon  look  a  little  lady." 
An  observer  of  these  primitive  races  is  struck  continually 
with  encb  little  trivial  touches  of  genuine  boman  nature. 

The  mill  consiats  of  a  block  of  granite,  syenite,  or  even 
mica  schist,  fifteen  or  eighteen  inches  square  and  five  or  six 
tliick,  with  a  piece  of  qaartz  or  other  hard  rock  about  the  size 
of  a  half  brick,  one  side  of  wbicb  has  a  convex  surface,  and  fits 
into  a  concave  hollow  in  the  larger  and  stationary  stone.  The 


workwoman  kneeling,  grasps  this  upper  millstone  with  both 
bands,  and  works  it  backwards  and  forwards  in  tbe  hollow  of 


OM  WOMAN  GRINDING  CORN.  Chap.  XXVI. 

the  lower  millstone,  in  the  same  way  that  a  baker  worki  his 
doogh,  Then  presBiiig  it  and  poshing  from  him.  The  wei^t 
of  the  person  is  hronght  to  bear  on  the  moveable  stone,  and 
while  it  is  pressed  and  poshed  forwards  and  backwards,  one 


hand  sopplies  erery  now  and  then  a  little  grain  to  he  thus  at 
Jirst  bmised  and  then  ground  on  the  lower  stone,  which  is 
placed  on  the  slope,  so  that  the  meal,  when  ground,  falls  on 
to  a  skin  or  mat  spread  for  the  purpose.  This  is  p^haps 
the  most  primitive  form  of  null,  and  anterior  to  that  in 
oriental  countries,  where  two  women  griod  at  one  mill,  and 
may  have  been  that  used  by  Sarah  of  old  when  she  entertained 
the  Angels. 

AnoUier  part  of  tiie  work  of  women  is  in  the  preparation 
of  beer.  The  malted  grain  is  son-dried  and  pounded  into 
meal,  then  cooked  or  brewed.  A  menymaking  often  imphes 
tliat  all  who  come  to  make  merry  ahall  Iwing  their  hoes  and 
let  off  the  excitement  of  the  liquor  by  a  substantial  day's  hoe- 
ing. At  other  times,  a  couple  shut  tbemselves  up  in  their  hnts, 
on  pretence  of  sickness,  and  drink  the  whole  brewing  them* 
selves.  But  a  more  common  mode  is  to  invite  all  the  fnends 
and  relatives  of  the  woman  whose  beer  is  to  be  drunk, 
aud  they  rejoice  in  the  entertainment,  and  praise  the  good- 


Chap.  XXVL  BREWING  BEER.  545 

wife's  ale,  as  so  good  that  the  ^  taste  reaches  right  to  the 
back  of  the  neck/'  or  in  proper  native  gourmand's  phrase 
declare  the  feast  to  be  so  rechercTiS  that  every  step  they  take 
homewards  will  cause  their  stomachs  to  say  "  tobu,  tobu,  tobu," 
None  but  a  churl  would  grudge  them  this,  the  enjoyment, 
though  a  poor  one,  of  their  lives.  Bless  their  hearts,  let  them 
rejoice  in  the  fruits  of  their  labour !  We  confess,  however,  that 
we  have  never  witnessed  the  plenty  which  their  land  yields, 
without  turning  in  imagination  to  the  streets  and  lanes  of  our 
cities,  and  lamenting  that  the  squalid  offspring  of  poverty 
and  sin  has  not  more  pleasant  lines  in  this  world,  where  there 
is  so  much  and  to  spare. 


.» 


2  K 


546  CLEARINGS  IN  FORESTS.  Coat.  XXVU. 


CHAPTER  XXVIL 

Clearings  in  forests  —  Resemblance  of  hunters  to  ancient  Egyptian  figores — 
Muazi  —  Difficulty  about  glides  ^Babiaa  undertake  to  lead  as  to  Chin- 
sambas  —  Bubisa  and  Manganja  heads  —  Difft^ient  ohaiacteristics  —  Dialects 
different  though  akin  —  Nkoma  —  The  Bua —  We  are  taken  for  Maatu,  and 
treated  accordingly  —  Intractable  headman — Well-broken-in  husband  —  Op- 
pressive atilluess  of  the  deserted  country  —  Bangw^  —  Meet  the  MaziJfco  — 
Show  a  bold  front  with  success  —  Zachariah  mends  his  pace  —  We  are  taken 
for  a  war  party  —  Oct  8th,  we  reach  MoLimba  on  Lake  Nyassa — The  unpaid 
guide  and  liis  doings  —  Polygamy — Loapula  and  Tanganyika  —  Babisa's 
knowledge  of  interior  tested  —  False  alarm  of  Mazitu  —  PrcTailing  direction 
of  wind  easterly  —  Siiores  of  the  Lake  —  Fugitives  and  their  distress  — 
Tobacco-traders  attacked  by  Mazitu  —  Guns  venm  bows  —  Moeapo  —  Chin- 
samba  s —  Minute  information  of  Chief — Africans  not  so  degraded  as  de- 
scribed —  Presents  —  Guides — Brisk  slave-trading  —  Sad  thoughts  —  1 5th 
Oct,  Katosa's—  His  description  of  the  conduct  of  the  Ajawa  —  Tiieir  admi- 
ration of  red  hair  —  Sugar-cane  probably  indigenous —  Bamboos —  Katosa  is 
invested  in  an  officer*s  coat  and  epaulets — His  present  Tillage  and  his  former 
one — 20th  Oct,  we  arrive  at  Motunda*s ~ Hidden  stores  of  provisions — 
Kabambe  and  Nyango  —  The  Gda  or  Gova  valley — The  Lesongpve — Kind- 
ness of  native  women  —  Slst  Oct.,  we  reach  the  Mukum-Madse  —  Thunder 
and  rain  —  Wet  clothes  and  fever. 

We  passed  several  clearings^  each  a  mile  or  more  square,  in 
which  all  the  trees  had  been  cut  down,  and  the  stumps  left 
only  two  or  three  feet  high.  The  felled  wood  was  gathered 
into  heaps,  about  fifty  yards  long,  by  thirty  broad,  and  when 
dry  was  burned.  The  ashes  were  spread  on  these  cleared 
spots,  and  a  species  of  millet  called  Maere  was  raised,  of 
which  the  natives  seemed  very  fond,  though  to  our  stomachs 
the  meal  was  as  indigestible  as  so  much  coarse  sand.  On 
one  side  of  these  cleared  spaces  the  hunters  set  large  strong 
nets  made  of  baobab  bark,  into  which  they  drive  the  game. 
We  saw  about  a  dozen  hartebeests  which  were  small  in  size, 
and  a  few  zebras  on  these  uplands.  We  were  struck  with 
the  resemblance  the  men  carrying  their  hunting-nets  bore  to 
figures  ill  ancient  Egyptian  tombs,  but  the  proportion  of  these 


Char  XXVII.       DIFFICULTY  ABOUT  GUIDES.  547 

hunteFB  to  the  population  was  very  small  The  Africans 
here,  as  a  rule,  are  of  the  agricultural  class,  and,  when  they 
have  a  prospect  of  reaping  their  grain  in  peace,  must  enjoy 
a  pretty  comfortable  life. 

On  2nd  October  we  applied  to  Muazi  for  guides  to  take 
us  straight  down  to  Chinsamba's  at  Mosapo,  and  thus  cut  off 
an  angle,  which  we  should  otherwise  make,  by  going  back  to 
Kota-kota  Bay.  He  replied  that  his  people  knew  the  shoi-t 
way  to  Cliinsamba's  that  we  desired  to  go,  but  that  they  all 
were  afraid  to  venture  there,  on  account  of  the  Zulus,  or 
Maaitu.  We  therefore  started  back  on  our  old  route,  and, 
after  three  hours'  march,  found  some  Babisa  in  a  village, 
who  promised  to  lead  us  to  Chinsamba. 

We  meet  with  these  keen  traders  everywhere.  They  are 
easily  known  by  a  line  of  horizontal  cicatrices,  each  half  an 
inch  long,  down  the  middle  of  the  forehead  and  chin.  They 
often  wear  the  hair  collected  in  a  mass  on  the  upper  and 
back  part  of  the  head,  while  it  is  all  shaven  off  the  fore- 
head and  temples.  The  Babisa  and  Waiau  or  Ajawa  heads 
have  more  of  the  round  bullet-shape  than  those  of  the 
Manganja,  indicating  a  marked  difference  in  character ;  the 
former  people  being  great  traders  and  travellers,  the  latter 
being  attached  to  home  and  agriculture.  The  Manganja  usu- 
ally intrust  their  ivory  to  the  Babisa  to  be  sold  at  the  Coast, 
and  complain  that  the  returns  made  never  come  up  to  the 
high  prices  which  they  hear  so  much  about  before  it  is  sent. 
In  fact,  by  the  time  the  Babisa  return,  the  expenses  of  the 
journey,  in  which  they  often  spend  a  month  or  two  at  a 
place  where  food  abounds,  usually  eat  up  all  the  profits. 

The  Babisa  have  a  different  dialect  from  the  Manganja, 
but  all  readily  converse  together.  In  passing  amoug  the 
different  tribes,  it  is  only  neces8ary  to  know  one  dialect  well, 
and  then  interpreters  are  easily  found.    Masiko,  one  of  the 

2  N  2 


648  NKOMA— THE  BUA.  Chap.  XXVH. 

Makololo,  had  already  acquired  a  fair  knowledge  of  the 
Manganja  dialect,  and  proved  a  good  mediam  of  commnni- 
cation.  To  our  cars  the  tongue  of  the  Maturoboka  seemed 
more  fully  developed  than  that  of  the  same  tribe,  Manganja 
or  Wanyassa,  further  south.  The  verb,  for  instance,  shows 
the  passive  and  past  tenses  here,  while,  among  tribes  in  con- 
tact with  foreigners  on  the  Zambesi,  these  distinctions  are 
seldom  noticed.  Our  new  companions  were  trading  in  to- 
bacco, and  had  collected  quantities  of  the  round  balls,  about 
the  size  of  nine-pounder  shot,  into  which  it  is  formed.  One 
of  them  owned  a  woman,  whose  child  had  been  sold  that 
morning  for  tobacco.  The  mother  followed  him,  weeping 
silently,  for  hours  along  the  way  we  went ;  she  seemed  to  be 
well  known,  for,  at  several  hamlets,  the  women  spoke  to 
her  with  evident  sympathy ;  we  could  do  nothing  to  alleviate 
her  sorrow — the  child  would  be  kept  until  some  slave-trader 
passed,  and  then  sold  for  calico.  The  different  cases  of  slave- 
trading  observed  by  us  are  mentioned,  in  order  to  give  a 
fiair  idea  of  its  details. 

We  spent  the  first  night,  after  leaving  the  slave  route, 
at  the  village  of  Nkoma,  among  a  section  of  Manganja, 
called  Machewa,  or  Macheba,  whose  district  extends  to  the 
'Bua.  Nkoma  might  be  called  an  agricultural  smith,  for  he 
had  a  smelting  fmnace,  and  abundance  of  grain  and  goats, 
with  which  he  showed  much  more  generosity  than  we  bad 
met  with  on  the  slave  route.  On  the  5th  October,  we  came 
to  the  Bua,  which  has  here  quite  as  rocky  a  bed  as  where  we 
crossed  it  lower  down.  Mount  Ngalla  was  on  our  right,  and 
several  hills  on  our  left ;  the  country  generally  is  undulating 
and  covered  with  scraggy  trees,  many  of  which  seemed  pol- 
larded, from  having  been  cut  down  to  make  clearings  for 
hunting.  Everywhere  we  came  upon  people  in  their  gardens, 
busily  preparing  for  the  approaching  rains.    The  men  were 


Chap.  XXVD.      WE  ABE  TAKEN  FOR  MAZITU.  549 

up  the  trees,  lopping  off  the  branches,  to  prevent  the  shade  in- 
juring the  crops  below,  or  were  clearing  away  the  shoots  from 
stumps  formerly  cut.  Sometimes  a  woman  is  seen  hoeing 
alone,  or  she  has  a  couple  of  boys  collecting  the  weeds  and 
grass  into  bundles  to  be  burned.  At  other  times  the  whole 
family  is  working  briskly,  or  all  the  neighbours  are  collected 
to  give  a  day's  hoeing  for  a  quantity  of  beer.  Our  guides 
always  asked  tliese  gatherings  "  if  all  the  beer  were  drunk." 
Some  of  the  women  were  watering  their  patches  of  maize  and 
pumpkins  from  the  running  streams  with  calabashes  and  pots. 
About  the  end  of  the  hot  dry  season,  they  make  holes  about 
the  gardens,  and  sow  maize  in  them,  and  water  it  till  the 
rains  begin.  This  plan  gives  the  maize  and  pumpkins  a 
start  in  the  race  towards  harvest  The  consequence  is,  that 
the  owner  has  fresh  green  maize  to  eat  some  six  weeks  after 
the  commencement  of  the  regular  showers. 

The  next  village  at  which  we  slept  was  also  that  of  a 
Manganja  smith.  It  was  a  beautiful  spot,  shaded  with  tall 
euphorbia-trees.  The  people  at  first  fied,  but  after  a  short 
time  returned,  and  ordered  us  off  to  a  stockade  of  Babisa, 
about  a  mile  distant.  We  preferred  to  remain  in  the  smooth 
shady  spot  outside  the  hamlet^  t.o  being  pent  up  in  a  tree- 
less stockade.  Twenty  or  thirty  men  came  dropping  in,  all 
fully  armed  with  bows  and  arrows,  some  of  them  were  at  least 
six  feet  four  in  height,  yet  these  giants  were  not  ashamed  to 
say,  ^*  We  thought  that  you  were  Mazitu,  and,  being  afraid, 
ran  away."  Their  orders  to  us  were  evidently  inspired  by 
terror,  and  so  must  the  refusal  of  the  headman  to  receive 
a  cloth,  or  lend  us  a  hut  have  been ;  but  as  we  never  had 
the  opportunity  of  realizing  what  feelings  a  successful  inva- 
sion would  produce,  we  did  not  know  whether  to  blame  them 
or  not.  The  headman,  a  tall  old  smith,  with  an  enormous, 
well-made  knife  of  his  own  workmanship,  came  quietly  round, 


550  INTRACTABLE  HEADMAN.  Chap.  XXVIL 

and,  inspecting  the  shelter,  which,  fipom  there  being  abnn- 
dance  of  long  grass  and  bnshes  near,  onr  men  put  up  for 
ns  in  half  an  hour,  gradually  changed  his  tactics,  and,  in  the 
evening,  presented  us  with  a  huge  pot  of  porridge  and  a  deli- 
ciously  well-cooked  fowl,  and  made  an  apology  for  haying 
been  so  rude  to  strangei-s,  and  a  lamentation  that  he  had 
been  so  foolish  as  to  refuse  the  fine  doth  we  had  offered. 
Another  cloth  was  of  course  presented,  and  we  had  the 
pleasure  of  parting  good  friends  next  day. 

We  were  not  always  so  fortunate.  Once,  after  a  long 
weary  march,  we  were  seeking  a  conrenient  spot  to  spend  the 
night  in :  the  path  led  through  a  yillt^,  but  the  headman 
tried  to  prevent  our  entering  it  Without  paying  any  atten- 
tion to  his  vociferations,  we  went  on  and  had  reached  Ae 
other  side  of  his  hamlet,  intending  to  sleep  elsewhere,  when 
something  he  said  induced  us  to  turn  back  and  sit  down  in 
the  open  space  in  the  centre  of  his  cat^es.  He  ran  off,  and, 
though  we  spent  two  nights  there,  we  laboured  in  vain  to 
bring  him  to  terms.  During  the  first  night  he  tried  to  steal 
a  blanket  off  one  of  the  sleepers,  and  threw  a  horn  auHHig  ns 
containing  witchcraft  medicine  :  the  next  night  he  hurled  a 
more  potent  missile  into  our  midst  in  the  shape  of  a  b^ 
stone.  His  neighbours,  to  whom  we  spoke  about  his  con- 
duct, seemed  to  think  little  of  it;  ^'It  was  like  the  man, 
and  it  was  no  matter.** 

Our  guide,  who  belonged  to  the  stockade  near  to  which  we 
had  slept,  declined  to  risk  himself  ftirther  than  his  homa 
While  wwting  to  liire  another,  Masiko  attempted  to  purchase 
a  goat,  and  had  nearly  concluded  the  bargain,  when  the  wife 
of  the  would-be  seller  came  forward,  and  said  to  her  hus- 
band, "  You  appear  as  if  you  were  unmarried ;  selling  a  goat 
without  consulting  your  wife;  what  an  insult  to  a  woman! 
What  sort  of  man  are  you  ?"    Masiko  urged  the  man,  saying 


Chap.  XXVn.  WE  MEET  THE  MAZITU.  551 

"Let  us  conclude  the  bargain,  and  never  mind  her;"  but 
he  being  better  instructed,  replied,  "  No,  I  have  raised  a  host 
against  myself  already/'  and  refused.  K  this  was  a  fair  speci- 
men of  domestic  life,  the  women  here  have  the  same  influ- 
ence that  they  have  in  Londa,  further  west,  and  in  many 
parts  north  of  the  Zambesi ;  where  we  have  known  a  wife 
order  a  husband  not  to  sell  a  fowl,  merely,  as  we  supposed, 
to  show  us  strangers  that  she  had  the  upper  hand.  We  con- 
jectured that  deference  was  commonly  shown  to  women  here, 
because,  as  in  the  west,  the  exclamation  most  commonly 
used  was,  "  0  my  mother ! "  We  heard  it  frequently  some 
thirty  miles  east  of  this,  when  the  inhabitants  took  us  for 
the  Mazitu.  South  of  the  Zambesi  the  exclamation  oftenest 
heard  is,  "  My  father," 

We  now  pushed  on  to  the  east,  so  as  to  get  down  to  the 
shores  of  the  Lake,  and  into  the  parts  where  we  were  known. 
The  country  was  beautiful,  well  wooded,  and  undulating,  but 
the  villages  were  all  deserted ;  and  the  flight  of  the  people 
seemed  to  have  been  quite  recent,  for  the  grain  was  standing 
in  the  corn-safes  untouched.  The  tobacco,  though  ripe, 
remained  uncut  in  the  gardens,  and  the  whole  country  was 
painfully  quiet :  the  oppressive  stillness  quite  unbroken  by 
the  singing  of  birds,  or  the  shrill  calls  of  women  watching 
their  com. 

On  passing  a  beautiful  village,  called  Bangwe,  surrounded 
by  shady  trees,  and  placed  in  a  vdley  among  mountains,  we 
were  admiring  the  beauty  of  the  situation,  when  some  of  the 
much  dreaded  Mazitu^  with  their  shields,  ran  out  of  the  ham- 
let, from  which  we  were  a  mile  distant  They  began  to  scream 
to  their  companions  to  give  us  chase.  Without  quickening 
our  pace  we  walked  on,  and  soon  were  in  a  wood,  through 
which  the  footpath  we  were  following  led.  The  first'  inti- 
mation we  had  of  the  approaching  Mazitu  was  given  by  the 


I 


552         WE  ARE  TAKEN  FOR  A  WAR  PARTY.    Chap.  XXVH 

Johanna  man,  Zachariah,  who  always  lagged  behind,  running 
up,  screaming  as  if  for  his  life.  The  bundles  were  all  put  in 
one  place  to  be  defended ;  and  Masiko  and  Dr.  Livingstone 
walked  a  few  paces  back  to  meet  the  coming  foe.  Masiko 
knelt  down  anxious  to  fire,  but  was  ordered  not  to  do  so. 
For  a  second  or  two  dusky  forms  appeared  among  the  trees, 
and  the  Mazitu  were  asked,  in  their  own  tongue,  ^^  What  do 
you  want  ?"  Masiko  adding,  "  What  do  you  say  ?  "  No  answer 
was  given,  but  the  dark  shade  in  the  forest  vanished.  They 
had  evidently  taken  us  for  natives,  and  the  sight  of  a  wliite 
man  was  sufiScient  to  put  them  to  flight  Had  we  been 
nearer  the  Coast,  where  the  people  are  accustomed  to  the 
slave-trade,  we  should  have  found  this  affair  a  more  diffi- 
cult one  to  deal  with ;  but,  as  a  rule,  the  people  of  the 
interior  are  much  more  mild  in  character  than  those  on 
the  confines  of  civilization. 

The  above  very  small  adventure  was  all  the  danger  we 
were  aware  of  in  this  journey ;  but  a  report  was  spread  from 
the  Portuguese  villages  on  the  Zambesi,  similar  to  several 
rumours  that  had  been  raised  before,  that  Dr.  Livingstone  had 
been  murdered  by  the  Makololo ;  and  very  unfortunately  the 
report  reached  England  before  it  could  be  contradicted. 

One  benefit  arose  from  the  Mazitu  adventure.  Zachariah, 
and  others  who  had  too  often  to  be  reproved  for  lagging  be- 
hind, now  took  their  places  in  the  front  rank ;  and  we  had  no 
difficulty  in  making  very  long  marches  for  several  days,  for 
all  believed  that  the  Mazitu  would  follow  our  footsteps,  and 
attack  us  while  we  slept. 

Before  commencing  the  actual  descent  to  the  valley  of  the 
lake,  we  passed  through  a  very  hilly  district,  cut  up  with 
many  gullies,  and  covered  with  trees.  Several  times,  as  we 
entered  a  deep  valley,  or  climbed  a  steep  hill,  our  ears  were 
saluted  by  the  cry  of  "Nkondo!  NkondoT'  (War I  War!) 


Chap.  XXVH.  REACH  MOLAMBA.  553 

• 

and  with  the  fihrill  wafl  of  the  women,  "0  Mae!"  (O 
mother!)  The  inhabitants  answered  our  inquiries  about 
the  paths  from  the  heights,  but  none  came  near  us.  The 
path  we  descended  by  at  last  was  very  cleverly  chosen,  it 
ran  along  the  spurs  rising  from  different  points  of  the  side  of 
the  great  valley,  and  was  comparatively  level  for  thirty  miles. 
The  distance  from  the  top  of  the  plateau  to  the  valley  below 
was  about  fifty  miles ;  and  when  we  met  people  coming  from 
the  plains  to  collect  wild  fruit  in  the  forests,  ihey  took  it  as 
great  news  that  we  had  actually  seen  live  Mazitu.  The  dis- 
trict into  which  we  descended  was  still  called  Bango,  and  a 
fine  stream,  named  Furisa,  flowed  through  it  into  the  Lake. 
Here  the  people  had  large  fields  of  maize  in  ear,  which  had 
been  raised  in  holes  in  the  dry  season  by  the  aid  of  the  water, 
that  percolates  from  the  Furisa  through  the  sand. 

On  the  8th  October  we  arrived  at  Molamba,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Lake,  and  had  a  delicious  bath.  We  were 
desirous  of  seeing  Nkomo,  the  headman,  again,  because  a 
guide  whom  he  had  given  us  had  not  been  paid.  Occasion- 
ally we  have  been  ill  served,  and  sometimes  deserted  by  the 
men  we  have  employed.  Indeed,  if  one  were  inclined  to 
make  a  wail  about  the  miseries  of  travelling,  an  important 
item  would  be  the  difficulties  about  guides ;  they  don't  much 
relish  the  task  of  serving  vagrants ;  nor  should  we.  In  this 
case,  however,  we  had  been  the  delinquents.  The  man,  after 
going  fifteen  miles,  suddenly  stopped  on  the  march,  and  said 
that  he  was  going  to  leave  us.  He  was  told  to  come  on  to 
the  next  village,  and  that  we  should  rest  there  and  pay  him 
his  wages.  We  never  saw  him  again.  On  telling  this  to 
Nkomo,  we  ascertained  that  in  taking  this  particular  guide 
we  had  been  unconsciously  aiding  an  elopement  of  two  of 
the  headman's  wives.  While  marching  along  with  us,  the 
guide  had  been  telegraphing  to  the  ladies  behind,  and  ap- 


554  TOBACCO-TRADERS.  Chap.  XXm 

peared  to  have  received  the  signal  to  strike  off  to  the  west 
of  our  course  when  he  proposed  to  leave  us.  From  the 
numerous  instances  of  the  polygaraist's  sorrows  which  we 
have  observed,  we  should  suppose  that  he  can  have  but  few 
joys ;  but  still  there  is  something  to  be  said,  we  dare  say,  on 
both  sides.  Polygamy  is  certainly  a  cause  of  misery  to  the 
children ;  who  become  partakers  of  all  the  petty  jealousies, 
hate,  and  quarrels  of  the  different  mothers. 

A  party  of  Babisa  tobacco-traders  came  from  the  N.W.  to 
Molambs,  while  we  were  there;  and  one  of  them  asserted 
several  times  that  the  Loapula,  after  emerging  from  Moelo, 
received  the  Lulua,  and  then  flowed  into  Lake  Mofn,  and 
thence  into  Tanganyika ;  and  from  the  last-named  Lake  into 
the  sea.  This  is  the  native  idea  of  the  geography  of  the 
interior ;  and,  to  test  the  general  knowledge  of  onr  informant, 
we  asked  him  about  our  acquaintances  in  Londa  ;  as  Moene, 
Eatema,  Shinde  or  Shinte,  who  live  south-west  of  the  rivers 
mentioned,  and  found  that  our  friends  there  were  perfectly 
well-known  to  him  and  to  others  of  these  travelled  natives. 
In  the  evening  two  of  the  Babisa  came  in,  and  reported  that 
the  Mazitu  had  followed  us  to  the  village  called  Chigaragars, 
at  which  we  slept  at  the  bottom  of  the  descent.  The  whole 
party  of  traders  set  off  at  once,  though  the  sun  had  set  We 
ourselves  had  given  rise  to  the  report,  for  the  women  of  Chi- 
garagara,  supposing  as  in  the  distance  to  be  Mazitu,  fled, 
with  all  their  household  utensils  on  their  heads,  and  had  no 
opportunity  afterwards  of  finding  out  their  mistake.  We 
spent  the  nigbt  where  we  were,  and  next  morning,  declin- 
ing Nkomo's  entreaty  to  go  and  kill  elephants,  took  onr 
course  along  the  shores  of  the  Lake  southwards. 

We  have  only  been  at  the  Lake  at  one  season  of  the  year : 
then  the  wind  blows  strongly  from  the  east,  and  indeed  thtt 
is  its  prevailing  direction  hence  to  the  Orange  Biver;  A 


Chap.  XXVH.    FUGITIVES  AND  THEIR  DISTRESS.  555 

north  or  a  south  wind  is  rare,  and  seldom  lasts  more  than 
three  days.  As  the  breeze  now  blew  over  a  large  body  of 
water,  towards  us,  it  was  deUghtful ;  but  when  facing  it  on 
the  table-land  it  was  so  strong  as  materially  to  impede  our 
progress,  and  added  considerably  to  the  labour  of  travelling. 
Here  it  brought  large  quantities  of  the  plant  ( Vallimerice)^ 
from  which  the  natives  extract  salt  by  burning,  and  which, 
if  chewed,  at  once  shows  its  saline  properties  by  the  taste. 
Clouds  of  the  kungo,  or  edible  midges,  floated  on  the  Lake, 
and  many  rested  on  the  bushes  on  land. 

The  reeds  along  the  shores  of  the  Lake  were  still  crowded 
with  fugitives,  and  a  great  loss  of  life  must  since  have  taken 
place ;  for,  after  the  com  they  had  brought  with  them  was 
expended,  famine  would  ensue.  Even  now  we  passed  many 
women  and  children  digging  up  the  roots,  about  the  size  of 
peas,  of  an  aromatic  grass ;  and  their  wasted  forms  showed 
that  this  poor  hard  fare  was  to  allay,  if  possible,  the  pangs 
of  hunger.  The  babies  at  the  breast  crowed  to  us  as  we 
passed,  their  mothers  kneeling  and  grubbing  for  the  roots ; 
the  poor  little  things  still  drawing  nourishment  from  the 
natural  fountain  were  unconscious  of  that  sinking  of  heart 
which  their  parents  must  have  felt  in  knowing  that  the  sup- 
ply for  the  little  ones  must  soon  fail.  No  one  would  sell  a 
bit  of  food  to  us :  fishermen,  even,  would  not  part  with  the 
produce  of  their  nets,  except  in  exchange  for  some  other  kind 
of  food.  Numbers  of  newly-made  graves  showed  that  many 
had  already  perished,  and  hundreds  were  so  emaciated  that 
they  bad  the  appearance  of  human  skeletons  swathed  in 
brown  and  wrinkled  leather.  In  passing  mile  after  mile, 
marked  with  these  sad  proofs  that  "man's  inhumanity  to 
man  makes  countless  thousands  mourn,"  one  experiences  an 
overpowering  sense  of  helplessness  to  alleviate  human  woe, 
and  breathes  a  silent  prayer  to  the  Almighty  to  hasten  the 


556  GUNS  VERSUS  BOWS,  Chap.  XXVIL 

good  time  coming  when  ^  man  and  man  the  world  o'er,  shall 
brothers  be  for  all  that."  One  small  redeemmg  considera- 
tion in  all  this  misery  could  not  but  be  felt ;  these  ills  were 
inflicted  by  heathen  Mazitu,  and  not  by,  or  for,  those  who 
say  to  Him  who  is  higher  than  the  highest,  ^^We  believe 
that  thou  shalt  come  to  be  our  Judg&" 

We  crossed  the  Mokole,  rested  at  Chitanda,  and  then  left 
the  Lake,  and  struck  away  N.W.  to  Chinsamba's.  Our  com- 
panions, who  were  so  much  oppressed  by  the  rarefied  air  of 
the  plateau,  still  showed  signs  of  exhaustion,  though  now 
only  1300  feet  above  the  sea,  and  did  not  recover  flesh  and 
spirits  till  we  again  entered  the  Lower  Shire  Valley,  which  is 
of  so  small  an  altitude,  that,  without  simultaneous  observa- 
tions with  the  barometer  there  and  on  the  sea-coast,  the 
difierence  would  not  be  appreciable. 

On  a  large  plain  on  wliich  we  spent  one  nighty  we  had 
the  company  of  eighty  tobacco  traders  on  their  way  from 
E^asungu  to  Chinsamba's.  The  Mazitu  had  attacked  and 
killed  two  of  them,  near  the  spot  where  the  Zulus  fled 
from  us  without  answering  our  questions.  The  traders  were 
now  so  frightened  that,  instead  of  making  a  straight  course 
with  us,  they  set  off  by  night  to  follow  the  shores  of  the  Lake 
to  Tsenga,  and  then  turn  west.  It  is  the  sight  of  shields,  or 
guns  that  inspires  terror.  The  bowmen  feel  perfectly  help- 
less when  the  enemy  comes  with  even  the  small  protection 
the  skin  shield  affords,  or  attacks  them  in  the  open  field 
with  guns.  They  may  shoot  a  few  arrows,  but  they  are  such 
poor  shots  that  ten  to  one  if  they  hit.  The  only  thing  that 
makes  the  arrow  formidable  is  the  poison ;  for  if  the  poisoned 
barb  goes  in  nothing  can  save  the  wounded.  A  bow  is  in  use 
in  the  lower  end  of  I^ake  Nyassa,  but  is  more  common  in 
the  Maravi  country,  from  six  to  eight  inches  broad,  which 
is  intended  to  be  used  as  a  shield  as  well  as  a  bow;  but  w^ 


Chap.  XXVH.         STOCKADE  OP  CHINSAMBA.  657 

never  saw  one  with  the  mark  on  it  of  an  enemy's  arrow.  It 
certainly  is  no  match  for  the  Zulu  shield,  which  is  between 
four  and  five  feet  long,  of  an  oval  shape,  and  about  two  feet 
broad.    So  great  is  the  terror  this  shield  inspires  that  we 


MaimylBow. 

sometimes  doubted  whether  the  Mazitu  here  were  Zulus  at 
all,  and  suspected  that  the  people  of  the  coimtry  took  ad- 
vantage of  that  fear,  and,  assuming  shields,  pretended  to 
belong  to  that  nation. 

On  the  11th  October  we  arrived  at  the  stockade  of 
Chinsamba  in  Mosapo,  and  had  reason  to  be  very  weU 
satisfied  with  his  kindness.  A  paraffin  candle  was  in  his 
eyes  the  height  of  luxury,  and  the  ability  to  make  a  L'ght 
instantaneously  by  a  lucifer  match,  a  marvel  that  struck  him 
with  wonder.  He  brought  all  his  relatives  in  different 
groups  to  see  the  strange  sights, — instantaneous  fire-making,, 
and  a  light,  without  the  annoyance  of  having  fire  and  smoke 
in  the  middle  of  the  floor.  When  they  wish  to  look  for 
anything  in  the  dark,  a  wisp  of  dried  grass  is  lighted.  Our 
books,  too,  were  objects  of  admiration.  The  idea  that  enters 
their  minds  is  that  books  are  our  instruments  of  divination. 
Theirs  are  bits  of  wood,  horn,  and  knuckle-bones  of  different 
animals,  or  the  scales  of  the  Manis,  which,  according  to  the 
way  they  alight  when  thrown  on  the  ground,  indicate  which 
way  the  diviner  is  to  answer  the  inquiries  which  have  been 
put  to  him.  The  sextant  and  artificial  horizon — the  weight 
of  the  mercury — called  by  our  men  **  foreign  water,"  were  all 
pondered  over  with  the  same  kind  of  interest  that  we  should 
take  for  the  first  time  in  any  new  and  wonderful  thing.    In 


558  INFORMATION  OF  CHINSAMBA.     Chap.  XXVn. 

many  hundreds  of  instances  in  which  we  haye  sat  with  a 
lantern  star-gazing,  we  never  once,  as  far  as  we  know,  excited 
the  suspicion  of  being  engaged  in  the  practice  of  witchcraft. 
Being  fully  aware  of  the  general  belief  in  wizards  and 
witches,  it  has  often  been  a  matter  of  surprise  to  us  that  no 
accusation  ever  reached  our  ears  that  this  "  foreign  water  " 
must  be  used  for  something  else  than  measuring  distances, 
and  to  help  in  writing  down  the  paths  of  the  new  country. 
The  only  reason  we  can  conceive  for  our  immunity  is  the 
fact  that  we  have  invariably  tried  to  give  a  truthful  expla- 
nation of  what  we  were  doing.  In  the  case  of  Sequasha, 
mentioned  in  an  earlier  portion  of  this  work,  we  suspect  that 
he  told  the  people  that  the  clocks  for  which  he  was  fined 
were  his  fetishes  or  charms. 

Chinsamba  gave  us  a  great  deal  of  his  company  during 
our  visits.  As  we  have  often  remarked  in  other  cases,  a 
Chief  has  a  great  deal  to  attend  to  in  guiding  the  affairs  of 
his  people.  He  is  consulted  on  all  occasions,  and  gives  his 
advice  in  a  stream  of  words,  which  show  a  very  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  topography  of  his  district ;  he  knows 
every  rood  cultivated,  every  weir  put  in  the  river,  every 
hunting-net,  loom,  gorge,  and  every  child  of  his  tribe.  Any 
addition  made  to  the  number  of  these  lajtter  is  notified  to 
him ;  and  he  sends  thanks  and  compliments  to  the  parents. 

After  a  great  deal  of  intercourse  with  different  rulers,  we 
haye  been  unable  to  discover  the  grounds  on  which  "  sensation 
writers'*  have  managed  to  envelop  African  Chiefs  with  an 
air  of  ridicule.  As  the  headmen  and  people,  too,  are  found 
to  deteriorate  as  we  approach  the  borders  of  civilization,  it 
is  probable  that  the  stupid  bestiality,  described  by  the  writers 
referred  to,  on  the  West  Coasts  may  be  a  reflection  from  the 
low  trading  characters  with  whom  many  of  the  Chieftains 
there  have  had  their  only  intercourse.     When  a  Chief  has 


Chap.  XXVIL  PRESENTS— GUIDES.  559 

made  any  inquiries  from  us,  we  have  found  that  we  gave 
most  satisfaction  in  our  answers  when  we  tried  to  fancy  our- 
selves in  the  position  of  the  interrogator,  and  him  in  that 
of  a  poor  uneducated  fellow-countryman  in  England.  The 
polite,  respectful  way  of  speaking  and  behaviour  of  what  we 
call  a  "  thorough  gentleman,"  almost  always  secure  the  friend- 
ship and  goodwill  of  the  Africans. 

The  presents  which,  following  the  custom  of  the  country, 
we  gave  to  every  headman,  where  we  either  spent  a  night  or 
a  longer  period,  varied  from  four  to  eight  yards  of  calico.  We 
had  some  Manchester  cloths  made  in  imitation  of  the  native 
manufactured  robes  of  the  West  Coast,  each  worth  five  or  six 
shillings.  To  the  more  important  of  the  Chiefs,  for  calico  we 
substituted  one  of  these  strong  gaudy  dresses,  iron  spoons, 
a  knife,  needles,  a  tin  dish,  or  pannikin,  and  found  these 
presents  to  be  valued  more  than  three  times  their  value  in 
cloth  would  have  been.  Eight  or  ten  shillings'  worth  gave 
abundant  satisfaction  to  the  greediest;  but  this  is  to  be  un- 
derstood as  the  prime  cost  of  the  articles,  and  a  trader  would 
sometimes  have  estimated  similar  generosity  as  equal  to 
from  301.  to  50Z.  In  some  cases  the  presents  we  gave  ex- 
ceeded the  value  of  what  was  received  in  return ;  in  others 
the  excess  of  generosity  was  on  the  native  side. 

We  never  asked  for  leave  to  pass  through  the  country ; 
we  simply  told  where  we  were  going,  and  asked  for  guides ; 
if  they  were  refused,  or  if  they  demanded  payment  before- 
hand, we  requested  to  be  put  into  the  beginning  of  the  path, 
and  said  that  we  were  sorry  we  could  not  agree  about  the 
guides,  and  usually  they  and  we  started  together.  Greater 
care  would  be  required  on  entering  the  Mazitu  or  Zulu 
country,  for  there  the  government  extends  over  very  large 
districts,  while  among  the  Manganja  each  little  district  is 
independent  of  every  other.      The  people  here  have  not 


660  BRISK  SLAVE-TRADING.  Chap.  XXVfl. 

adopted  the  exacting  system  of  the  Banyai,  or  of  the  people 
whose  country  was  traversed  by  Speke  and  Grant 

In  our  way  back  from  Chinsamba's  to  Chembi's,  and  from 
his  village  to  NkwindaX  and  thence  to  Katosa's,  we  only  saw 
the  people  working  in  their  gardens,  near  to  the  stockade 
These  strongholds  were  strengthened  with  branches  of  acacias, 
covered  with  strong  hooked  thorns ;  and  were  all  crowded 
with  people.  The  air  was  now  clearer  than  when  we  went 
north,  and  we  could  see  the  hills  of  Kirk's  Kange  five  or  six 
miles  to  the  west  of  our  path.  The  sun  struck  very  hot,  and 
the  men  felt  it  most  in  their  feet.  Every  one  who  could  get 
a  bit  of  goatskin  made  it  into  a  pair  of  sandals. 

While  sitting  at  Nkwinda's,  a  man  behind  the  court 
hedge-wall  said,  with  great  apparent  glee,  that  an  Arab 
slaving  party  on  the  other  side  of  the  confluence  of  the  Shir© 
and  Lake  were  ^^  giving  readily  two  fathoms  of  calico  for  a 
boy,  and  two  and  a  half  for  a  girl ;  never  saw  trade  so  brisk, 
no  haggling  at  alL"  This  party  was  purchasing  for  the 
supply  of  the  ocean  slave-trade.  One  of  the  evils  of  this 
traffic  is  that  it  profits  by  every  calamity  that  happens  in  a 
country.  The  slave-trader  naturally  reaps  advantage  from 
every  disorder,  and  though  in  the  present  case  some  lives  may 
have  been  saved  that  otherwise  would  have  perished,  as  a  role 
he  intensifies  hatreds,  and  aggravates  wars  between  the  tribes, 
because  the  more  they  fight  and  vanquish  each  other  the 
richer  his  harvest  becomes.  Where  slaving  and  cattle  are 
unknown  the  people  live  in  peace.  As  we  sat  leaning  against 
that  hedge,  and  listened  to  the  harangue  of  the  slave-trader's 
agent,  it  glanced  across  our  mind  that  this  was  a  terrible 
world ;  the  best  in  it  unable,  from  conscious  imperfections,  to 
say  to  the  worst  ** Stand  by!  for  I  am  holier  than  thon." 
The  slave-trader,  imbued  no  doubt  with  certain  kindly  fed- 
ings,  yet  pursuing  a  calling  which  makes  him  a  fair  specimen 


Chap.  XXVII.  CONDUCT  OF  THE  AJAWA.  561 

of  a  human  fiend,  stands  grouped,  with  those  by  whom  the 
slave-traders  are  employed,  and  with  all  tho  workers  of  sin 
and  misery  in  more  highly-favoured  lands,  an  awful  picture 
to  the  All-seeing  Eye. 

We  arrived  at  Katosa's  village  on  the  15th  October,  and 
found  about  thirty  young  men  and  boys  in  slave-sticks. 
They  had  been  bought  by  other  agents  of  the  Arab  slavers, 
still  on  the  east  side  of  the  Shire.  They  were  resting  in  the 
village,  and  their  owners  soon  removed  them.  The  weight  of 
the  goree  seemed  very  ttnnoying  when  they  tried  to  sleep. 
This  taming  instrument  is  kept  on,  until  the  party  has  crossed 
several  rivers  and  all  hope  of  escape  has  vanislxed  from  the 
captive's  mind. 

On  explaining  to  Katosa  the  injury  he  was  doing  in  selling 
his  people  as  slaves,  he  assured  us  that  those  whom  we  had 
seen  belonged  to  the  Arabs,  and  added  that  he  had  far  too 
few  people  already.  He  said  he  had  been  living  in  peace 
at  the  lakelet  Pamalombe ;  that  the  Ajawa,  or  Machinga, 
under  Kainka  and  Karamba,  and  a  body  of  Babisa,  under 
Maonga,  had  induced  him  to  ferry  them  over  the  Shire ;  that 
they  had  lived  for  a  considerable  time  at  his  expense,  and  at 
last  stole  his  sheep,  which  induced  him  to  make  his  escape  to 
the  place  where  he  now  dwelt,  and  in  this  flight  he  had  lost 
many  of  his  people.  His  account  of  the  usual  conduct  of  the 
Ajawa  quite  agrees  with  what  these  people  have  narrated 
themselves,  and  gives  but  a  low  idea  of  their  moral  tone. 
They  have  repeatedly  broken  all  the  laws  of  hospitality  by 
living  for  months  on  the  bounty  of  the  Manganja,  and  then, 
by  a  sudden  uprising,  overcoming  their  hosts,  and  killing  or 
chasing  them  out  of  their  inheritances.  The  secret  of  their 
success  is  the  possession  of  firearms.  There  were  several  of 
these  Ajawa  here  again,  and  on  our  arrived  they  proposed  to 
Katosa  that  they  should  leave ;  but  he  replied  that  they 

2  o 


562  KATOSA'S  INVESTITURE.  Chap.  XXTD. 

need  not  be  afraid  of  ns.  They  had  red  beads  strong  so 
thickly  on  their  hair  that  at  a  little  distance  they  appeared 
to  have  on  red  caps.  It  is  eurioas  that  the  taste  for  red 
hair  should  be  so  general  among  the  Africans  here  and  fur- 
ther north ;  in  the  south  black  mica^  called  SebHo,  and  even 
soot  are  used  to  deepen  the  colour  of  the  hair ;  here  many 
smear  the  head  with  red-ochre,  others  plait  the  inner  bark 
of  a  tree  stained  red  into  it;  and  a  red  powder  called 
Mnkuru  is  employed,  which  some  say  is  obtained  from  the 
ground,  and  others  from  the  roots  of  a  tree. 

It  haying  been  doubted  whether  sugar-cane  is  indigenon& 
to  this  country  or  not,  we  employed  Eatosa  to  procure  the 
two  varieties  conmionly  cultivated,  with  the  intention  of 
conveying  them  to  Johanna.  One  is  yellow,  and  the  other, 
like  what  we  observed  in  the  Barotse  Valley,  is  vari^ted 
with  dark  red  and  yellow  patches,  or  all  red.  We  have  seen 
it  "arrow"  or  blossom.  Bamboos  also  run  to  seed,  and  the 
people  are  said  to  use  the  seed  as  food.  The  sugar-cane 
has  native  names,  which  would  lead  us  to  believe  it  to  be 
indigenous.  Here  it  is  called  Zimbiy  frirther  south  Mesariy 
and  in  the  centre  of  the  country  Meshuati,  Anything  intro- 
duced in  recent  times,  as  maize,  superior  cotton,  or  cassava, 
has  a  name  implying  its  foreign  origin. 

As  £atosa  was  very  bountiful,  and  seemed,  from  calling 
Dr.  Livingstone  his  good  spirit,  to  have  given  us  his  con- 
fidence, a  present  was  made  him  of  a  marine  officer's  coat 
and  epaulets,  which  was  sent  by  the  officers  of  H.M.S.  Lyra^ 
under  Captain  Oldfield,  to  the  Chief  who  had  seized  and 
delivered  up  to  justice  the  murderers  of  the  late  Dr.  Boscher. 
We  carried  it  up  the  Bovuma,  intending  to  present  it,  should 
we  be  fortunate  enough  to  meet  that  Chief;  but,  at  the  pcnnt 
where  we  were  obliged  to  turn  back,  we  could  hear  nothing 
about  him.    Dr.  Boscher,  having  gone  with  an  Arab  party. 


Chap.  XXVIT.  KATOSA'S  VILLAGE.  563 

was  not  recognised  among  the  people  as  a  European,  and  we 
found  it  rather  an  awkward  thing  to  inquire  about  one  who 
had  been  murdered.  Those  who  knew  anything  about  the 
matter  were  naturally  suspicious  that  our  inquiries  implied 
blood-relationship,  and  its  attendant  blood-feud ;  so,  after  un- 
availing search,  we  brought  the  present  here,  and,  it  being 
unlikely  that  we  should  soon  go  to  the  east  side  of  the  Lake, 
after  a  full  explanation  of  the  reasons  why  we  were  carrying 
this  present,  we  gave  it  to  Katosa,  and  believe  that,  if  any 
future  traveller  should  require  his  aid,  he  would  cheerfully 
render  it  to  the  utmost  of  his  ability. 

Katosa's  village  was  embowered  among  gigantic  trees  of 
fine  timber:  several  caflBaceous  bushes,  with  berries  closely 
resembling  those  of  the  common  coffee,  grew  near,  but  no 
use  had  ever  been  made  of  them.  There  are  several  cincho- 
naceous  trees  also  in  the  country ;  and  some  of  the  wild  fruits 
are  so  good  as  to  cause  a  feeling  of  regret  that  they  have  not 
been  improved  by  cultivation,  or  whatever  else  brought  ours 
to  their  present  perfection.  Katosa  lamented  that  this  locality 
was  so  inferior  to  his  former  place  at  Pamalombe  ;  there  he 
had  maize  at  the  diflferent  stages  of  growth  throughout  the 
year.  To  us,  however,  he  seemed,  by  digging  holes,  and 
taking  advantage  of  the  moisture  beneath,  to  have  succeeded 
pretty  well  in  raising  crops  at  this  the  driest  time.  The 
Makololo  remarked  that  "  here  the  maize  had  no  season," — • 
meaning  that  the  whole  year  was  proper  for  its  growth  and 
ripening.  By  irrigation  a  succession  of  crops  of  grain  might 
be  raised  anywhere  within  the  south  intertropical  region  of 
Africa. 

When  we  were  with  Motunda,  on  the  20th  October,  he 

told  us  frankly  that  all  the  native  provisions  were  hidden  in 

Kirk's  range,  and  his  village  being  the  last  place  where  a  sup- 

ply  of  grain  could  be  purchased  before  we  reached  the  ship, 

2  0  2 


564  THE  GOA  VALLEY.  Chap.  XXVH. 

we  waited  till  he  had  sent  to  his  hidden  stores.  The  upland 
country,  beyond  the  mountains  now  on  our  right,  is  called 
Deza,  and  is  inhabited  by  Maravi,  who  are  only  anoUier 
tribe  of  Manganja.  The  paramount  Chief  is  called  Eabambe, 
and  he,  having  never  been  visited  by  war,  lives  in  peace  and 
plenty.  Goats  and  sheep  thrive ;  and  Nyango,  the  Chief- 
tainess  further  to  the  south,  has  herds  of  homed  cattle.  The 
country  being  elevated  is  said  to  be  cold,  and  there  are  large 
grassy  plains  on  it  which  are  destitute  of  trees.  The  Maravi 
are  reported  to  be  brave,  and  good  marksmen  with  the  bow ; 
but,  throughout  all  the  country  we  have  traversed,  guns  are 
enabling  the  trading  tribes  to  overcome  the  agricultural  and 
manufacturing  classes. 

In  marching  up  the  Goa  or  Gova  Valley  the  haze  had 
gone,  and  the  mountains  were  all  quite  clear.  In  the  lines 
of  dark-green  massive  trees  along  the  watercourses,  sang 
swarms  of  cicadse,  with  a  stridulous  chorus,  which  at  spots 
resembled  the  noise  of  fifty  fiyingpans  in  active  operation. 
A  heavy  shower  of  rain,  which  had  fallen  some  time  before, 
had  cleared  the  atmosphere  and  called  forth  insect  life. 

On  the  ascent  at  the  end  of  the  valley  just  opposite  Mount 
Mvai,  we  looked  back  for  a  moment  to  impress  the  beauties 
of  the  grand  vale  on  our  memory.  The  heat  of  the  sun 
was  now  excessive,  and  Masiko,  thinking  that  it  was  over- 
powering, proposed  to  send  forward  to  the  ship  and  get 
a  hammock,  in  which  to  carry  any  one  who  might  knock 
up.  He  was  truly  kind  and  considerate.  Dr.  Livingstone 
having  fallen  asleep  after  a  fatiguing  march,  a  hole  in  tiie 
roof  of  the  hut  he  was  in  allowed  the  sim  to  beat  on  his 
head,  ^and  caused  a  splitting  hea;dache  and  deafiaess :  while 
he  was  nearly  insensible,  he  felt  Masiko  repeatedly  lift 
him  back  to  the  bed  off  which  he  had  rolled,  and  cover 
him  up. 


Chap.  XXVIL  THE  LE8UNGWE.  565 

On  the  24th  we  were  again  in  Banda,  at  the  village  of 
Chasnndu,  and  coidd  now  see  clearly  the  hot  valley  in  which 
the  Shire  flows,  and  the  mountains  of  the  Manganja  beyond 
to  our  south-east.  Instead  of  following  the  road  by  which 
we  had  come,  we  resolved  to  go  south  along  the  Lesungwe, 
which  rises  at  Zunje,  a  peak  on  the  same  ridge  as  Mvai,  and 
a  part  of  Kirk's  range,  which  bounds  the  country  of  the 
Maravi  on  our  west.  This  is  about  the  limit  of  the  beat 
of  the  Portuguese  native  traders,  and  it  is  but  recently 
that,  following  our  footsteps,  they  have  come  so  far.  It 
is  not  likely  that  their  enterprise  will  lead  them  further 
north,  for  Chasundu  informed  us  that  the  Babisa  under-sell 
the  agents  from  Tette.  He  had  tried  to  deal  with  the  latter 
when  they  first  came ;  but  they  offered  only  ten  fathoms  of 
calico  for  a  tusk,  for  which  the  Babisa  gave  him  twenty 
fathoms  and  a  little  powder.  Ivory  was  brought  to  us  for 
sale  again  and  again,  and,  as  far  as  we  could  judge,  the  price 
expected  would  be  about  one  yard  of  calico  per  pound,  or 
possibly  more,  for  there  is  no  scale  of  prices  known.  The 
rule  seems  to  be  that  buyer  6tnd  seller  shall  spend  a  good 
deal  of  time  in  trying  to  cheat  each  other  before  coming  to 
any  conclusion  over  a  bargain. 

We  found  the  Lesungwe  a  fine  stream  near  its  source,  and 
about  forty  feet  wide  and  knee-deep,  when  joined  by  the 
Lekudzi,  which  comes  down  from  the  Maravi  country.  The 
banks  and  slopes  down  to  the  stream  are  dry  and  hard. 
The  soil  is  largely  mixed  with  disintegrated  gneiss  and  mica " 
schist,  and  is  not  so  fertile  as  is  common  in  this  country. 
The  gneiss  and  mica  schist  have  been  given  their  present 
dip  away  from  the  chain,  or  eastwards,  by  the  granitic 
masses  which  forin  Kirk's  range.  The  people  had  been 
subjected  to  the  slave-trading  scourge  of  the  Ajawa  and 
Tette  dealers.    Indeed,  a  party  of  the  latter  was  actually  on 


566  CIVILITIES  OF  THE  WOMEN.       Chap.  XXVIL 

the  Lesnngwe  at  this  very  time,  headed  by  a  white  Portu- 
guese— probably  one  of  the  convict  soldiers  of  the  Governor. 
Guinea-fowl  abounded,  but  no  grain  could  be  purchased, 
for  the  people  had  cultivated  only  the  holmes  along  the 
banks  with  maize  and  pumpkins.  Time  enough  had  not 
elapsed  since  the  slave-trader's  invasion,  and  destruction  of 
their  stores,  for  them  to  raise  crops  of  grain  on  the  adjacent 
lands.  To  deal  with  them  for  a  few  heads  of  maize  was  the 
hungry  bargaining  with  the  famished,  so  we  hastened  on 
southwards  as  fast  as  the  excessive  heat  would  allow  us. 
It  was  impossible  to  march  in  the  middle  of  the  day, 
the  heat  was  so  intolerable;  and  we  coidd  not  go  on  at 
night,  because,  if  we  had  chanced  to  meet  any  of  the 
inhabitants,  we  should  have  been  taken  for  marauders.  In 
making  a  detour  one  day  in  search  of  buffaloes  or  guinea- 
fowls,  in  company  with  Masego,  we  came  upon  some  women 
working  in  their  maize-gardens.  They  drew  water  for  us, 
and  spoke  to  us  cheerily  ad  we  sat  under  a  tree.  One  of  their 
husbands  soon  came  running  up  in  alarm,  and  made  a  great 
demonstration  of  fighting.  It  was  amusing  to  notice  the 
effect  of  Masego's  quiet  chaff  on  our  pugnacious  visitor, 
who  took  up  a  defensible  position  on  a  slope  some  fifty 
yards  off  while  we  rested  in  the  shade.  "The  women,** 
said  Masego,  **had  understood  our  civil  petition  for  wato* 
perfectly;  they  showed  no  fear  of  peaceable  men;  we 
asked  water  from  them  because  we  had  no  vessel  to 
draw  with  and  they  had;  but  if  he  insisted  on  fighting, 
he  had  better  call  all  his  friends  and  come  on;  it  was 
daylight,  and  all  would  see  who  was  the  coward,  and  who 
was  not."  The  arrow  was  first  taken  from  the  bow-string  and 
put  alongside  the  bow,  then  it  was  placed  in  the  qidver,  and, 
though  he  continued  talking  and  justifying  his  alarm,  he 
listened,  sat  down,  followed  us  at  a  distance,  and,  uninvited. 


-Chap.  XXVII.      WE  REACH  THE  MTJKURU-MADSK  567 

eventually  proved  himself  very  useful  as  a  guide.  He  after- 
wards explained  that  he  had  been  smoking  hemp^  and  had 
been  excited  to  this  mad  sort  of  conduct 

We  had  now  thunder  every  afternoon ;  but  while  occasional 
showers  seemed  to  fall  at  different  parts,  none  fell  on  us.  The 
air  was  deliciously  clear,  and  revealed  all  the  landscape  co- 
vered everywhere  with  forest,  and  bounded  by  beautiful  moun- 
tains. On  the  31st  October  we  reached  the  Mukuru-Madse, 
after  having  travelled  660  geographical  miles,  or  760  English 
miles  in  a  straight  line.  This  was  accomplished  in  fifty-five 
travelling  days,  twelve  miles  per  diem  on  an  average.  If  the 
numerous  bendings  and  windings,  and  ups  and  downs  of  the 
paths  could  have  been  measured  too,  the  distance  would  have 
been  found  at  least  fift;een  miles  a  day.  A  pedometer 
showed  more,  •  but  in  coming  back  from  one  short  trip  we 
found  that  the  instrument  varied  so  much  that  we  did  not 
nse  it  again.  A  very  good  chronometer  was  employed  to 
measure  the  differences  of  longitude.  It  was  carried  in  a  box 
•of  clothing,  on  the  head  of  a  man  of  steady  gait  In  order 
to  secure  a  chronometer  being  of  any  use,  no  dependence 
ought  to  be  placed  on  its  rate,  when  stationary.  Its  travelling 
rate  must  be  ascertained  by  taking  a  series  of  altitudes  of 
the  sun  or  stars  at  certain  spots  in  the  outward  journey; 
and  a  second  series  of  observations  must  be  made  at  the  same 
stations  in  the  return  journey.  By  this  means  the  exact 
travelling  rate  can  be  found.  The  same  plan  should  be 
followed  in  a  boat ;  for,  if  this  or  some  similar  precaution  be 
not  taken,  a  chronometer  when  carried  is  of  little  value  in 
measuring  distances.  This  will  be  evident  when  it  is  men- 
tioned that  the  chronometer  we  used,  when  at  the  ship, 
had  the  rate  — 11*;  in  travelling  -f-  1*  daily,  which  would 
.amount  to  a  daily  error  of  three  miles. 

The  night  we  slept  at  the  Mukuru-Madse,  it  thundered 


568  WET  CLOTHES  AND  FEVER.  Chap.  XXVn. 

4 

heavily,  but,  as  this  had  been  the  case  eyery  afternoon,  and 
no  rain  had  followed,  we  erected  no  shelter,  but  during  thia 
night  a  pouring  rain  came  on.  When  very  tired  a  man  feek 
determined  to  sleep  in  spite  of  everything,  and  the  sound  of 
dropping  water  is  said  to  be  conducive  to  slumber,  but  that 
does  not  refer  to  an  African  storm.  If,  when  half  asleep  in 
spite  of  a  heavy  shower  on  the  back  of  the  head,  he  uncon- 
sciously turns  on  his  side,  the  drops  from  the  branches  make 
such  capital  shots  into  his  ear,  that  the  brain  rings  again. 

We  were  off  next  morning,  the  1st  of  November,  as  soon 
as  the  day  dawned.  In  walking  about  seven  miles  to  the 
ship,  our  clothes  were  thoroughly  dried  by  the  hot  sun,  and 
an  attack  of  fever  followed.  We  relate  this  little  incident 
to  point  out  the  almost  certain  consequence  of  getting  wet 
in  this  climate,  and  allowing  the  clothes  to  dry  on  the  person. 
Even  if  we  walk  in  the  mornings  when  the  dew  is  on  the 
grass,  and  only  get  our  feet  and  legs  wet,  a  very  uneasy 
feeling  and  partial  fever  with  pains  in  the  limbs  ensue,  and 
continue  till  the  march  onwards  bathes  them  in  perspiration. 
Had  Bishop  Mackenzie  been  aware  of  this,  which,  before 
experience  alone  had  taught  us,  entailed  many  a  severe 
lesson,  we  know  no  earthly  reason  why  his  valuable  life  might 
not  have  been  spared.  The  difference  between  getting  the 
clothes  soaked  in  England  and  In  Africa  is  this :  in  the  cold 
climate  the  patient  is  compelled,  or,  at  any  rate,  warned,  by 
discomfort  to  resort  at  once  to  a  change  of  raiment ;  while 
in  Africa  it  is  cooling  and  rather  pleasant  to  allow  the  clothes 
to  dry  on  the  person.  A  Missionary  in  proportion  as  he 
possesses  an  athletic  frame,  hardened  by  manly  exercises,  in 
addition  to  his  other  qualifications,  will  excel  him  who  is  not 
favoured  with  such  bodily  endowments ;  but  in  a  hot  climate 
efficiency  mainly  depends  on  husbanding  the  resources.  He 
must  never  forget  that,  in  the  tropics,  he  is  an  exotic  plant 


Chap.  XXVDI,       CONDUCT  OF  THE  AJAWA.  569 


CHAPTER    XXVIIL 

Gratifying  confidence  of  Ajawa  —  Annual  rest  of  tropical  trees — Rise  in 
the  Shire  insufficient — Bishop  Mackenzie's  successor — Unfulfilled  hopes — 
What  a  Missionary  ought  to  be  —  Abandonment  of  Mission  unnecessary —  Suc- 
cess of  West  CJoast  Missions  —  Jan.  19th,  the  Shire  in  flood  —  Leave  Ghibisa's 

—  Delayed — Reach  Morambala  2nd  Feb.  —  Effluyium  from  the  water — Its 
effects — Take  on  board  orphans  and  widows — 2iambesi  in  flood — Islands 
in  Zambesi  —  Formation  of  delta  —  Death  of  Mariano  —  Very  moderate 
exports — ^IViken  in  tow — Heavy  gale — Behaviour  of  the  **  Lady  of  the  Lake  ** 

—  Promptitude  and  skill  of  Capt.  Chapman,  of  H.M.S.  Ariel  —  Close  packing 
of  live  cargoes  perhaps  necessary  —  The  Pioneer  takes  rescued  orphans  and 
widows  with  Mr.  Waller  to  Cape  —  Cabocoim — M.  Soares  —  New  Governor 
of  Mosambique —  New  species  of  Pedalia — 16th  April  we  reach  Zanzibar — 
Hospitality  of  foreigners,  and  of  our  own  conntrjrmen  —  30th  April  we  leave 
Zanzibar  on  board  the  Lady  Nyassa  for  Bombay — African  sailors — Arrival 
at  Bombay. 

We  were  deb'ghted  and  thankful  to  find  all  those  left  at 
the  ship  in  good  health,  and  that  from  the  employments  in 
which  they  had  been  occupied  they  had  suffered  less  from 
fever  than  usual  during  our  absence.  The  steward,  after 
having  performed  his  part  in  the  march  right  bravely,  re- 
joined his  comrades  stronger  than  he  had  ever  been  before. 

An  Ajawa  Chief,  named  Kapeni,  had  so  much  confidence 
in  the  English  name  that  he,'  with  most  of  his  people,  visited 
the  ship ;  and  asserted  that  nothing  would  give  his  country- 
men greater  pleasure  than  to  receive  the  associates  of  Bishop 
Mackenzie  as  their  teachers.  This  declaration,  coupled  with 
the  subsequent  conduct  of  the  Ajawa,  was  very  gratifying, 
inasmuch  as  it  was  clear  that  no  umbrage  had  been  taken  at 
the  check  which  the  Bishop  had  given  to  their  slaving;  their 
consciences  had  told  them  that  the  course  he  had  pursued 
was  right. 

When  we  returned,  the  contrast  between  the  vegetation 


570  EFFECT  OF  THE  RAINS.         Chap.  XXVm. 

about  Muazi*8  and  that  near  the  ship  was  very  striking. 
We  had  come  so  quickly  down,  that  while  on  the  plateau,  in 
latitude  12°  S.,  the  young  leaves  had  in  many  cases  passed 
from  the  pink  or  other  colour  they  Jfciave  on  first  coming  out 
to  the  light  fresh  green  which  succeeds  it»  here,  on  the 
borders  of  16°  S.,  or  from  150  to  180  miles  distant,  the 
trees  were  still  bare,  the  grey  colour  of  the  bark  pre- 
dominating over  every  other  hue.  The  trees  in  the  tropics 
here  have  a  very  well-marked  annual  rest  On  the  Bovuma 
even,  which  is  only  about  ten  degrees  from  the  equator,  in 
September  the  slopes  up  from  the  river  some  sixty  miles 
inland  were  of  a  light  ashy-grey  colour ;  and  on  ascending 
them,  we  found  that  the  majority  of  the  trees  were  without 
leaves ;  those  of  the  bamboo  even  lay  crisp  and  crumpled  on 
the  groimd.  As  the  sun  is  usually  hot  by  day,  even  in 
the  winter,  this  withering  process  may  be  owing  to  the 
cool  nights;  Africa  differing  so  much  from  Central  India 
in  the  fact  that,  in  Africa,  however  hot  the  day  may  be,  the 
air  generally  cools  down  suflSciently  by  the  early  morning 
watches  to  render  a  covering  or  even  a  blanket  agreeable. 

The  first  fortnight  after  our  return  to  the  ship  was  em- 
ployed in  the  delightful  process  of  resting,  to  appreciate  which 
a  man  must  have  gone  through  great  exertions.  In  our  case 
the  muscles  of  the  limbs  were  as  hard  as  boards,  and  not  an 
ounce  of  fat  existed  on  any  part  of  the  body.  We  now  had 
frequent  showers ;  but,  these  being  only  the  earlier  rains,  the 
result  on  the  rise  of  the  river  was  but  a  few  inches.  The 
effect  of  these  rains  on  the  surrounding  scenery  was  beautiful 
in  the  extreme.  All  trace  of  the  dry  season  was  soon 
obliterated,  and  hills  and  mountains  from  base  to  summit 
were  covered  with  a  mantle  of  living  green.  The  son 
passed  us  on  his  way  south  without  causing  a  flood, 
so    all    our    hopes  of    a    release    were    centred    on   his 


Ohat.  XXVm.     BISHOP  MACKENZIE'S  SUCCESSOR.  571 

return  towards  the  Equator,  when,  as  a  rule,  the  waters 
of  inundation  are  made  to  flow.  Up  to  this  time  the  rains 
descended  simply  to  water  the  earth,  fill  the  pools,  and  make 
ready  for  the  grand  overflow  for  which  we  had  still  to  wait 
six  weeks.  It  is  of  no  use  to  conceal  that  we  waited  with 
much  chagrin ;  for  had  we  not  been  forced  to  return  trom 
the  highlands  west  of  Nyassa  we  might  have  visited  Lake 
Bemba ;  but  unavailing  regrets  are  poor  employment  for  the 
mind ;  so  we  banished  them  to  the  best  of  our  power. 

About  the  middle  of  December,  1863,  we  were  informed 
that  Bishop  Mackenzie's  successor,  after  spending  a  few 
months  on  the  top  of  a  mountain  about  as  high  as  Ben  Nevis 
in  Scotland,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Shire,  where  there  were 
few  or  no  people  to  be  taught,  had  determined  to  leave 
the  country.  This  imfortunate  decision  was  communicated 
to  us  at  the  same  time  that  six  of  the  boys  reared  by 
Bishop  Mackenzie  were  sent  back  into  heathenism.  The 
boys  were  taken  to  a  place  about  seven  miles  from  the  ship, 
but  immediately  found  their  way  up  to  us,  lamenting  that 
they  had  no  longer  that  Bishop  who  had  a  heart,  and  who  was 
more  than  a  father  to  them.  We  told  them  that  if  they  wished 
to  remain  in  the  coimtry  they  had  better  so  arrange  at  once, 
for  we  were  soon  to  leave.    The  sequel  will  show  their  choice. 

As  soon  as  the  death  of  Bishop  Mackenzie  was  known  at 
the  Cape,  Dr.  Gray,  the  excellent  Bishop  there,  proceeded  at 
once  to  England,  with  a  view  of  securing  an  early  appoint- 
ment of  another  head  to  the  Mission,  which  in  its  origin  owed 
so  much  to  his  zeal  for  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  among  the 
heathen,  and  whose  interests  he  had  continually  at  heart. 
About  the  middle  of  1862  we  heard  that  Dr.  Gray's  efforts 
had  been  successful,  and  that  another  clergyman  would 
soon  take  the  place  of  our  departed  friend.  This  pleas- 
ing   inteUigence  was   exceedingly    cheering    to   the    Mis- 


572  WHAT  A  MISSIONARY  SHOULD  BE.    Chap.  XXVIII. 

sionaries,  and  gratifying  also  to  the  members  of  the 
Expedition.  About  the  beginning  of  1863  the  new  Bishop 
arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  in  a  man-of-war,  and  after 
some  delay  proceeded  inland.  The  Bishop  of  the  Cape  had 
taken  a  voyage  home  at  considerable  inconvenience  to  himself, 
for  the  sole  object  of  promoting  this  Mission  to  the  heathen ; 
and  it  was  somehow  expected  that  the  man  he  would  secure 
would  be  an  image  of  himself;  and  we  must  say,  that  what- 
ever others,  from  the  representations  that  have  gone  abroad; 
may  think  of  his  character,  we  invariably  found  Dr.  Gray 
to  be  a  true,  warmhearted  promoter  of  the  welfare  of  his 
fellow-men ;  a  man  whose  courage  and  zeal  have  provoked 
very  many  to  good  works. 

It  was  hoped  that  the  presence  of  a  new  head  to  the  Mis- 
sion would  infuse  new  energy  and  life  into  the  small  band  of 
Missionaries,  whose  ranks  had  been  thinned  by  death ;  and 
who,  though  discouraged  by  the  disasters  which  the  slave  war 
and  famine  had  induced,  and  also  dispirited  by  the  depressing 
influences  of  a  low  and  unhealthy  position  in  the  swampy 
Shire  Valley,  were  yet  bravely  holding  out  till  the  much- 
needed  moral  and  material  aid  should  arrive. 

These  expectations,  we  regret  to  say,  were  not  fulfilled.  We 
would  here  be  understood  as  expressing  only  a  general  opinion. 
The  qualities  required  in  a  Missionary  leader  are  not  of  the 
common  kind.  He  ought  to  have  physical  and  moral  courage 
of  the  highest  order,  and  a  considerable  amount  of  cultivation 
and  energy,  balanced  by  patient  determination ;  and  above 
all  these  are  necessary  a  calm  Christian  zeal  and  anxiety  for 
the  main  spiritual  results  of  the  work.  We  repeat,  that  we 
are  expressing  no  opinion  about  the  qualification  of  any 
individual ;  but  we  assert  that  not  every  one  has  this  rare 
combination  of  power ;  and  that  a  man  who  may  be  quite 
in  his  natural  sphere  in  a  quiet  round  of  common  duties  as 


Chap.  XXVIII.     MISSIONS  ON  THE  WEST  COAST.  573 

the  minister  of  a  town,  or  rural  parish  in  England,  may  be 
very  much  out  of  it  as  a  Missionary  in  Central  Africa. 

We  beUeve  that  we  are  uttering  the  sentiments  of  many 
devout  members  of  different  sections  of  Christians,  when 
we  say,  it  was  a  pity  that  the  Mission  of  the  Universities 
was  abandoned.  The  ground  had  been  consecrated  in  the 
truest  sense  by  the  lives  of  those  brave  men  who  first 
occupied  it  In  bare  justice  to  Bishop  Mackenzie,  who  was 
the  first  to  fall,  it  must  be  said,  that  the  repudiation  of  all 
he  had  done,  and  the  sudden  abandonment  of  all  that  had 
cost  so  much  life  and  money  to  secure,  was  a  serious  line  of 
conduct  for  one  so  unversed  in  Missionary  operations  as 
his  successor,  to  inaugurate.  It  would  have  been  no  more 
than  fidr  that  Bishop  Tozer,  before  winding  up  the  aflGiirs 
of  the  Mission,  should  actually  have  examined  the  high- 
lands of  the  Upper  Shire;  he  would  thus  have  gratified 
the  associates  of  his  predecessor,  who  believed  that  the 
highlands  had  never  had  a  fair  trial,  and  he  would  have 
gained  from  personal  observation  a  more  accurate  knowledge 
of  the  country  and  the  people  than  he  could  possibly  have 
become  possessed  of  by  information  gathered  chiefiy  on  the 
coast  With  this  examination,  rather  than  with  a  stay  of  a 
few  months  on  the  humid,  dripping  top  of  misty  Morambala, 
we  should  have  felt  much  more  satisfied. 

To  those  who  have  not  paid  much  attention  to  the  labours 
of  different  bodies  of  Christians  it  may  be  mentioned,  that, 
before  success  appeared  at  the  Mission-stations  on  the  West 
Coast,  upwards  of  forty  Missionaries  had  succumbed  to  the 
climate.  Let  it  be  said,  if  you  will,  that  the  Societies  and 
the  men  were  alike  unwise  to  sacrifice  so  much  valuable  life. 
These  may  be  proofs  of  folly  to  some,  but  to  others  they  are 
telling  evidence  that  our  religion  has  lost  none  of  its  pristine 
power.     Nothing  in  our  opinion  is  wanting  to  complete  the 


574  RISING  OP  THE  SHIRE.  Chap.  XXVm. 

title  of  many  of  these  men  to  take  rank  with  the  Saints  and 
Martyrs  of  primitive  times.  More  experience  of  the  climate 
has  since  greatly  diminished  the  mortality*,  and  in  1861  there 
were^  on  the  West  Coast,  one  hundred  and  ten  prmcipal 
I^Iission-stations,  thirteen  thousand  scholars  in  the  schools^ 
and  nineteen  thousand  members  in  the  churches. 

Bishop  Mackenzie  had  in  a  short  time  gained  tlie 
first  step,  he  had  secured  the  confidence  of  the  people. 
This  step  it  often  takes  several  years  to  attain ;  and  we 
cannot  but  regret  that  subsequently  the  Mission  of  the 
Universities,  when  contrasted  with  others,  should  appear  to 
so  much  disadvantage.  In  fact,  though  representing  all  that 
is  brave  and  good  and  manly,  in  the  chief  seats  of  English 
learning,  the  Mission,  in  fleeing  from  Morambala  to  an  island 
in  the  Indian  Ocean,  acted  as  St.  Augustine  would  have 
done,  had  he  located  himself  on  one  of  the  Channel  Islands^ 
when  sent  to  christianize  the  natives  of  Central  England. 
This  is,  we  believe,  the  first  case  of  a  Protestant  Mission 
having  been  abandoned  without  being  driven  away. 

In  January,  1864,  the  natives  all  confidently  asserted  that 
at  next  fuU  moon  the  river  would  have  its  great  and  pe> 
manent  flood.  It  had  several  times  risen  as  much  as  a 
foot,  but  fell  again  as  suddenly.  It  was  curious  that  their 
observation  coincided  exactly  with  ours,  that  the  flood  of 
inundation  happens  when  the  sun  comes  overhead  on  his 
way  back  to  the  Equator.  We  mention  this  more  minutely 
because,  firom  the  observation  of  several  years,  we  believe 
that  in  this  way  the  inundation  of  the  Nile  is  to  be 
explained.  On  the  19th  the  Shire  suddenly  rose  several 
feet,  and  we  started  at  once;  and  stopping  only  for  a 
short  time  at  Chibisa's  to  bid  adieu  to  the  Ajawa  and 
Makololo,  who  had  been  extremely  useful  to  us  of  late 
in  supplying  maize  and  fresh  provisions,   we  hastened  on 


Chap.  XXVIII.       EFFLUVIUM  FROM  l^E  MARSH.  575 

our  way  to  the  ocean.  In  order  to  keep  steerage  way  on 
the  Pioneer,  we  had  to  go  quicker  than  the  stream,  and 
nnfortunately  carried  away  her  rudder  in  passing  suddenly 
round  a  bank.  The  delay  required  for  the  repairs  preyented 
our  reaching  Morambala  till  the  2nd  of  February. 

The  flood-water  ran  into  a  marsh  some  miles  above  the 
mountain,  and  became  as  black  as  ink ;  and  when  it  returned 
again  to  the  river  emitted  so  strong  an  effluvium  of  sulphu- 
retted hydrogen,  that  one  could  not  forget  for  an  instant  that 
the  air  was  most  offensive.  The  natives  said  this  stench 
did  not  produce  disease.  We  spent  one  night  in  it,  and 
suffered  no  iU  effects,  though  we  fuUy  expected  an  attack  of 
fever.  Next  morning  every  particle  of  white  paint  on  both 
ships  was  so  deeply  blackened,  that  it  could  not  be  cleaned  by 
scrubbing  with  soap  and  water.  The  brass  was  all  turned 
to  a  bronze  colour,  and  even  the  iron  and  ropes  had  taken  a 
new  tint.  This  is  an  additional  proof  that  malaria  and  offensive 
effluvia  are  not  always  companions.  We  did  not  suffer  more 
from  fever  in  the  mangrove  swamps,  where  we  inhaled  so 
much  of  the  heavy  mousey  smell  that  it  was  distinguishable 
in  the  odour  of  our  shirts  and  flannels,  than  we  did  elsewhere. 

We  tarried  in  the  foul  and  blackening  emanations  from 
the  marsh  because  we  had  agreed  to  receive  on  board 
about  thirty  poor  orphan  boys  and  girls,  and  ^a  few  help- 
less widows  whom  Bishop  Mackenzie  had  attached  to  his 
Mission.  All  who  were  able  to  support  themselves  had 
been  encouraged  by  the  Missionaries  to  do  so  by  cultivating 
the  ground,  and  they  now  formed  a  little  free  community. 
But  the  boys  and  girls  who  were  only  from  seven  to  twelve 
years  of  age,  and  orphans  without  any  one  to  help  them, 
could  not  be  abandoned  without  bringing  odium  on  the 
English  name.  The  effect  of  an  outcry  by  some  persons 
in  England,  who  knew  nothing  of  the  circumstances  in  which 


576  THE  ZAMBESI  IN  FLOOD  Chap.  XXVllL 

Bishop  Mackenzie  was  placed/  and  who  certainly  had  not 
given  up  their  own  right  of  appeal  to  the  sword  of  the 
magistrate,  was,  that  the  new  head  of  the  Mission  had  gone 
to  extremes  in  the  opposite  direction  from  his  predecessor; 
not  even  protesting  against  the  one  monstrous  evil  of  the 
country,  the  slave-trade.  The  most  heartless  axiom  that 
ever  issued  from  a  Missionary's  mouth,  ''  one  black  {ace  is 
as  good  as  another  to  me,"  was  never  uttered  by  Mackenzie ; 
nor  did  it  find  a  chord  of  sympathy  in  true  English  hearts. 
We  believed  that  we  ought  to  leave  the  English  name  in 
the  same  good  repute  among  the  natives  that  we  had  found 
it ;  and  in  removing  the  poor  creatures,  who  had  lived  with 
Mackenzie  as  children  with  a  father,  to  a  land  where  the 
education  he  began  would  be  completed,  we  had  the  aid  and 
sympathy  of  the  best  of  the  Portuguese,  and  of  the  whole 
native  population.  The  difference  between  shipping  slaves 
and  receiving  these  free  orphans  struck  us  as  they  came  on 
board.  As  soon  as  permission  to  embark  was  given,  the  rush 
into  the  boat  nearly  swamped  her — their  eagerness  to  be  safe 
on  the  Pioneer's  deck  had  to  be  repressed. 

Bishop  Tozer  had  already  left  for  Quillimane  when  we  took 
these  people  and  the  last  of  the  Universities'  Missionaries  on 
board  and  proceeded  to  the  Zambesi.  It  was  in  high  flood.  We 
have  always'spoken  of  this  river  as  if  at  its  lowest,  for  fear  lest 
we  should  convey  an  exaggerated  impression  of  its  capabilities 
for  navigation.  Instead  of  from  five  to  fifteen  feet^  it  was  now 
from  fifteen  to  thirty  feet,  or  more,  deep.  All  the  sandbanks 
and  many  of  the  islands  had  disappeared,  and  before  us  rolled 
a  river  capable,  as  one  of  our  naval  friends  thought,  of  carry- 
ing a  gunboat  Some  of  the  sandy  islands  are  annually  swept 
away,  and  the  quantities  of  sand  carried  down  are  prodigious. 

The  process  by  which  a  delta,  extending  eighty  or  one 
hundred  miles  from  the  sea,  has  been  formed  may  be  seen 


Chap.  XXVUI.        ISLANDS  IN  THE  ZAMBESI.  577 

going  on  at  the  present  day— the  coarser  particles  of  sand  are 
driven  out  into  the  ocean,  just  in  the  same  way  as  we  see  they 
are  over  banks  in  the  beds  of  torrents.   The  finer  portions  are 
caught  by  the  returning  tide,  and,  accumulating  by  successive 
ebbs  and  flows,  become,  with  the  decaying  vegetation,  arrested 
by  the  mangrove  roots.    The  influence  of  the  tide  in  bringing 
back  the  finer  particles  gives  the  sea  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Zambesi  a  clean  and  sandy  bottom.     This  process  has  been 
going  on  for  ages,  and,  as  the  delta  has  enlarged  eastwards,  the 
river  has  always  kept  a  channel  for  itself  behind.    Wherever 
we  see  an  island  all  sand,  or  with  only  one  layer  of  mud  in  it, 
we  know  it  is  one  of  recent  formation,  and  that  it  may  be  swept 
away  at  any  time  by  a  flood ;  while  those  islands  ^hich  are 
all  of  mud  are  the  more  ancient,  having  in  fact  existed  ever  since 
the  time  when  the  ebbing  and  flowing  tides  originally  formed 
them  as  parts  of  the  delta.    This  mud  resists  the  action  of 
the  river  wonderfully.     It  is  a  kind  of  clay  on  which  the 
eroding  power  of  water  has  little  efiect    Were  maps  made, 
showing  which  banks  and  which  islands  are  liable  to  erosion, 
it  would  go  far  to  settle  where  the  annual  change  of  the 
channel  would  take  place ;  and,  were  a  Jew  stakes  driven 
in  year  by  year  to  guide  the  water  in  its  course,  the  river 
might  be  made  of  considerable  commercial  value  in  the 
hands  of  any  energetic  European    nation.     No    canal   or 
railway  would  ever  be  thought  of  for  this  part  of  Africa. 
A  few  improvements  would  make  the  Zambesi  a  ready  means 
of  transit  for  all  the  trade  that,  with  a  population  thinned  by 
Portuguese  slaving,  will  ever  be  developed  in  our  day.    Here 
there  is  no  instance  on  record  of  the  natives  flocking  in 
thousands  to  the  colony,  as  they  did  at  Natal,  and  even  to  the 
Arabs  on  Lake  Ny««sa.    This  keeping  aloof  rendera  it  un- 
likely that  in  Portuguese  hands  the  Zambesi  v^l  ever  be 
of  any  more  value  to  the  world  than  it  has  been. 

2  p 


L 


578  DEATH  OF  MARIAKO.  Chap.  XXVIIL 

Mariano  died,  from  the  effects  of  debauchery,  while  we  were 
coming  down  the  Shire.  His  sad  career  affords  anolher 
illustration  of  that  system  which,  whether  in  African  or  half 
European  htinds,  obstructs  the  prosperity  of  this  country.^ 
We  must  say  that,  notwithstanding  all  the  mismanagement 
and  injustice  with  which  the  French  and  English  stand 
chargeable  in  their  treatment  of  barbarians,  the  commercial 
results  of  their  enterprises  are  usually  appreciable ;  while  the 
total  exports  &om  the  port  of  Quillimane,  which  is  the  trade 
outlet  of  the  Zambesi,  yield  an  annual  revenue  of  about  half 
the  amount  of  the  Governor's  salary ! 

After  a  hurried  visit  to  Senna,  in  order  to  settle  with  Major 
Sicard  and  Senhor  Ferrao  for  supplies  we  had  drawn  thence 
after  the  depopulation  of  the  Shire,  we  proceeded  down  to  the 
Zambesi's  mouth,  and  were  fortunate  in  meeting,  on  the  13th 
February,  with  H.M.S.  Orestes.  She  was  joined  next  day 
by  H.M.S.  Ariel.  The  Orestes  took  the  Pioneer,  and  the 
Ariel  the  Lady  Nyassa  in  tow,  for  Mosambique.  On  the  16th 
a  circular  storm  proved  the  sea-going  qualities  of  the  "Lady 
of  the  Lake ;"  for  on  this  day  a  hurricane  struck  the  Ariel,  and 
drove  her  nearly  backwards  at  a  rate  of  six  knots.  The  towing 
hawser  wound  round  her  screw  and  stopped  her  engines.  No 
sooner  had  she  recovered  from  this  shock  than  she  was  again 
taken  aback  on  the  other  tack,  and  driven  stem  on  towards 
the  Lady  Nyassa's  broadside.  We  who  were  on  board  the 
little  vessel  saw  no  chance  of  escape  unless  the  crew  of  the 
Ariel  should  think  of  heaving  ropes  when  the  big  ship  went 
over  us ;  but  she  glided  past  our  bow,  and  we  breathed  freely 
again.  We  had  now  an  opportunity  of  witnessing  man-of-war- 
seamanship.  Captain  Chapman,  though  his  engines  were  dis- 
abled, did  not  think  of  abandoning  us  in  the  heavy  gale, 
but  crossed  the  bows  of  the  Lady  Nyassa  again  and  again, 
dropping  a  cask  with  a  line  by  which  to  give  us  another 


-Crjlv.  XXVUI.  heavy  GALE.  579 

hawser.  We  might  never  haye  picked  it  up,  had  Bot  a 
Erooman  jumped  overboard  and  fastened  a  second  line  to  the 
cask;  and  then  we  drew  the  hawser  on  board,  and  were 
again  in  tow.  During  the  whole  time  of  the  hurricane  the 
little  vessel  behaved  admirably,  and  never  shipped  a  single 
green  sea.  When  the  Ariel  pitched  forwards  we  could  see 
a  large  pai;t  of  her  bottom,  and  when  her  stem  went  down  we 
could  see  all  her  deck.  A  boat,  hung  at  her  stem  davits,  was 
stove  in  by  the  waves.  The  officers  on  board  the  Ariel 
thought  that  it  was  all  over  with  us:  we  imagined  that 
they  were  sujBfering  more  than  we  were.  Nautical  men  may 
suppose  that  this  was  a  serious  storm  only  to  landsmen ;  but 
the  Orestes,  which  was  once  in  sight,  and  at  another  time 
forty  miles  off  during  the  same  gale,  spUt  eighteen  sails  ;  and 
the  Pioneer  had  to  be  lightened  of  parts  of  a  sugar-mill  she 
was  carrying;  her  round-house  was  wjtshed  away,  and  the 
<»bin  was  frequently  knee-deep  in  water.  When  the  Orestes 
came  into  Mosambique  harbour  nine  days  after  our  arrival 
there,  our  vessel,  not  being  anchored  dose  to  the  Ariel,  for 
we  had  run  in  under  the  lee  of  the  fort,  led  to  the  surmise  on 
board  the  Orestes  that  we  had  gone  to  the  bottom.  Captain 
Chapman  and  his  officers  pronounced  the  Lady  Nyassa  to  be 
the  finest  little  sea-boat  they  had  ever  seen.  She  certainly 
was  a  contrast  to  the  Ma-Eobert,  and  did  great  credit  to  her 
builders,  Tod  and  Macgregor  of  Glasgow.  We  can  but  regret 
that  she  was  not  employed  on  the  Lake  after  which  she  was 
named,  and  for  which  she  was  intended  and  was  so  well  adapted. 
What  stmck  us  most,  during  the  trip  from  the  Zambesi 
to  Mosambique,  was  the  admirable  way  in  which  Captain 
Chapman  handled  the  Ariel  in  the  heavy  sea  of  the  hurricane ; 
the  promptitude  and  skill  with  which,  when  we  had  broken 
three  hawsers,  others  were  passed  to  us  by  the  rapid  evolu- 
tions of  a  big  ship  round  a  little  one ;  and  the  ready  appliance 

2  p  2 


580  WE  DELIVER  L-P  THE  PIONEER.      Chap.  XXVIII. 

of  means  shown  in  cutting  the  hawser  off  the  screw  nine  feet 
under  water  with  long  chisels  made  for  the  occasion ;  a  task 
which  it  took  three  days  to  accomplish.  Captain  Chapman 
very  kindly  invited  us  on  board  the  Ariel,  and  we  accepted 
his  hospitality  after  the  weather  had  moderated. 

The  little  vessel  was  hauled  through  and  against  the  huge 
seas  with  such  force  that  two  hawsers  measuring  elpven  inches 
each  in  circumference  parted.      Many    of   the    blows  we 
received  from  the  billows  made  every  plate  quiver  from  stem 
to  stem,  and  the  motion  was  so  quick  that  we  had  to  hold 
on  continually  to  avoid  being  tossed  from  one  side  to  the  other 
or  into  the  sea.    Ten  of  the  late  Bishop's  flock  whom  we  had 
on  board  became  so  sick  and  helpless  that  do  what  we  could 
to  aid  them  they  were  so  very  much  in  the  way  that  the 
idea  broke  in  upon  us,  that  the  close  packing  resorted  to  by 
slavers  is  one  of  the  necessities  of  the  traffic.     If  this  is  so,  it 
would  account  for  the  fact  that  even  when  the  trade  was  legal 
the  same  injurious  custom  was  common,  if  not  universaL    If, 
instead  of  ten  such  passengers,  we  had  been  carrying  two 
hundred,  with  the  wind  driving  the  rain  and  spray,  as  by  night 
it  did,  nearly  as  hard  as  hail  against  our  faces,  and  nothing 
whatever  to  be  seen  to  windward  but  the  occasional  gleam  of 
the  crest  of  a  wave,  and  no  sound  heard  save  the  whistling 
of  the  storm  through  the  rigging,  it  would  have  been  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  the  working  of  the  ship  and  safety  of 
the  whole  that  the  live  cargo  should  all  have  been  stowed 
down  below,  whatever  might  have  been  the  consequences. 

Having  delivered  the  Pioneer  over  to  the  Navy,  she  was 
towed  down  to  the  Cape  by  Captain  Forsyth  of  the  Valorous, 
and  after  examination  it  was  declaxed  that  with  repairs  to  the 
amount  of  3001.  she  would  be  as  serviceable  as  ever.  Those 
of  the  Bishop's  flock  whom  we  had  on  board  were  kindly 
allowed  a  passage  to  the  Cape.    The  boys  went  in  the  Orestes, 


CuAP.  XXVIU.         CABOgEIRA— MR.  SCARES.  581 

and  we  are  glad  of  tlie  opportunity  to  record  our  heartfelt 
thanks  to  Captains  Forsyth,  Gardner,  and  Chapman  for 
rendering  us,  at  various  times,  every  aid  in  their  power. 
Mr.  Waller  went  in  the  Pioneer,  and  continued  his  generous 
services  to  all  connected  with  the  Mission,  whether  white  or 
black,  till  they  were  no  longer  needed ;  and  we  must  say  that 
his  conduct  to  them  throughout  was  truly  noble,  and  worthy 
of  the  highest  praise. 

After  beaching  the  Lady  Nyfiissa  at  Cabo^eira,  opposite  the 
house  of  a  Portuguese  gentleman  well  known  to  all  English- 
men, Joao  da  Costa  Soares,  we  put  in  brine  cocks,  and 
cleaned  and  painted  her  bottom.  Mr.  Soares  appeared  to  us 
to  have  been  very  much  vilified  in  a  publication  in  England 
a  few  years  ago ;  our  experience  proved  him  to  be  extremely 
kind  and  obliging.  All  the  members  of  the  Expedition  who 
passed  Mosambique  were  unanimous  in  extolling  his  gene- 
rosity, and,  from  the  general  testimony  of  English  visitors  in 
his  favour,  we  very  much  regret  that  his  character  was  so 
grievously  misrepresented.  To  the  authorities  at  Mosambique 
our  thanks  are  also  due  for  obliging  accommodation;  and 
though  we  differ  entirely  from  the  Portuguese  officials  as  to  the 
light  in  which  we  regard  the  slave-trade,  we  trust  our  exposure 
of  the  system,  in  which  unfortunately  they  are  engaged,  will 
not  be  understood  as  indicating  any  want  of  kindly  feeling 
and  good  will  to  them  personally.  Senhor  Canto  e 
Castro,  who  arrived  at  Mosambique  two  dajrs  after  our 
departure  to  take  the  office  of  Governor-General,  was  well 
known  to  us  in  Angola.  We  lived  two  months  in  his  house 
when  he  was  Commandant  of  Golungo  Alto ;  and,  knowing 
him  thoroughly,  believe  that  no  better  man  could  have  been 
selected  for  the  office.  We  trust  that  his  good  principles  may 
enable  him  to  withstand  the  temptations  of  his  position ;  but 
we  should  be  sorry  to  have  ours  tried  in  a  den  of  slave- 


582  WE  BEACH  ZANZIBAR.  Chap.  XXVm. 

traders  with   the   miserable  pittance   he   receives  'for  his 
support. 

While  at  Mosambique,  a  species  of  Pedalia  called  by  Mr. 
Soares  Dadeleira,  and  by  the  natives — from  its  resemblance  to 
GerzUm,  or  sesamnm — ^**  wild  sesamnm,"  was  shown  to  us,  and 
is  said  to  be  well  known  among  native  nurses  as  a  very  gentle 
and  tasteless  aperient  for  children.  A  few  leaves  of  it  are 
stirred  in  a  cup  of  cold  water  for  eight  or  nine  seconds,  and  a 
couple  of  teaspoonfuls  of  the  liquid  given  as  a  dose.  The 
leaves  form  a  sort  of  mucilage  in  the  water  by  longer  stirring,, 
which  is  said  to  have  diuretic  properties  besides. 

On  the  16th  April  we  steamed  out  from  Mosambique ;  and,, 
the  currents  being  in  our  favour,  in  a  week  reached  Zanzibar. 
Here  we  experienced  much  hoq)itality  from  our  countrymen, 
and  especially  from  Dr.  Seward,  then  acting  consul  and 
political  agent  for  Colonel  Playfair.  A  peculiarity  in  all  our 
countrymen  whom  we  have  met  abroad  is  the  attention  they 
pay  to  the  comfort  of  the  stranger.  We  cannot  complain  of 
a  want  of  hospitality  in-other  nations,  but  we  have  to  wait  till 
the  time  of  the  usual  me^l  comes  round ;  and,  in  the  inter?al, 
our  Dutch  and  other  friends  used  to  put  a  string  of  questions : 
"Where  do  you  come  from?  Where  are  you  bound  for? 
What  do  you  mean  to  do  ?  Are  you  mcorried  ?  If  not,  why 
not  ?  "  and  many  more  of  the  same  kind;  but,  so  far  as  our 
experience  goes,  the  Englishman's  first  inquiries  were,  '*  Have 
you  breakfasted?  What  will  you  take?  Have  some  cold 
meat  ?  "  All  were  kind ;  but,  from  being  English  ourselv^  we^ 
preferred  our  own  countrymen's  way  of  showing  hospitality. 

Dr.  Seward  was  very  doubtful  if  we  could  reach  Bombay 
before  what  is  called  the  break  of  the  monsoon  took  place.. 
This  break  occurs  usually  between  the  end  of  May  and  the 
12th  of  June.  The  wind  still  blows  from  Africa  to  India, 
but  with  so  much  violence,  and  with  such  a  murky  at- 


Chap.  XXVm.  AFRICAN  SAILORS.  583 

mosphere  that  few  'or  no  observations  for  position  can  be 
taken.  We  were,  however,  at  the  time  very  anxious  to 
dispose  of  the  Lady  Nyassa,  and,  the  only  market  we  could 
reach  being  Bombay,  we  resolved  to  run  the  risk  of  getting 
there  before  the  stormy  period  commenced  ;  and,  after  taking 
fourteen  tons  of  coal  on  board,  we  started  on  the  30th  April 
from  Zanzibar. 

Our  complement  consisted  of  seven  native  Zambesians, 
two  boys,  and  four  Em-opeans;  namely,  one  stoker,  one 
sailor,  one  carpenter,  whose  names  have  been  already  men- 
tioned, and  Dr.  Livingstone,  as  navigator.  The  Lady  Nyassa 
had  shown  herself  to  be  a  good  sea-boat.  The  natives  had 
*  proved  themselves  capital  sailors,  though  before  volunteering 
not  one  of  them  had  ever  seen  the  sea.  They  were  not 
picked  men,  but,  on  paying  a  dozen  whom  we  had  in  our 
employment  for  fifteen  months,  they  were  taken  at  ran- 
dom fix>m  several  hundreds  who  offered  to  accompany 
us.  Their  wages  were  ten  shillings  per  mensem,  and  it 
was  curious  to  observe,  that  so  eager  were  they  to  do  their 
duty  that  only  one  of  them  lay  down  from  sea-sickness 
during  the  whole  voyage.  They  took  in  and  set  sail  very 
cleverly  in  a  short  time,  and  would  climb  out  along  a  boom, 
reeve  a  rope  through  the  block,  and  come  back  with  the  rope 
in  their  teeth,  though  at  each  lurch  the  performer  was  dipped 
in  the  sea.  The  sailor  and  carpenter,  though  anxious  to 
do  their  utmost,  had  a  week's  severe  illness  each,  and  were 
unfit  for  duty. 

It  is  pleasant  enough  to  take  the  wheel  foB  an  hour  or 
two,  or  even  for  a  watch,  but  when  it  comes  to  be  for  every 
alternate  four  hours,  it  is  utterly  wearisome.  We  set  our 
black  men  to  steer,  showing  them  which  arm  of  the  compass 
needle  was  to  be  kept  towards  the  vessel's  head,  and  soon 
three  of  them  could  manage  very  well,  and  they  only  needed 


584  ARRIVAL  AT  BOMBAY.  Chap.  XXVm. 

watching.  In  going  up  the  East  Coast  to  take  advantage  of 
the  current  of  one  hundred  miles  a  day,  we  would  fain  have 
gone  into  the  Juba  or  Webbe  River,  the  mouth  of  which  ia 
only  15'  south  of  the  line,  but  we  were  too  shorthanded.  We 
passed  up  to  about  ten  degrees  north  of  the  Equator,  and  tiien 
steamed.j>ut  from  the  coast.  Here  Maury's  wind  chart 
showed  that  the  calm-belt  had  long  been  passed,  but  we  were 
in  it  still ;  and,  instead  of  a  current  carrying  us  north,  we  had 
a  contrary  current  which  bore  us  every  day  four  miles  to  the 
south.  We  steamed  as  long  as  we  dared,  knowing  as  we 
did  that  we  must  use  the  engines  on  the  coast  of  India. 

After  losing  many  days  tossing  on  the  silent  sea,  with 
innumerable  dolphins,  flying-fish,  and  sharks  around  us,  we 
had  six  days  of  strong  breezes,  then  calms  again  tried  our 
patience ;  and  the  near  approach  of  that  period,  "  the  break 
of  the  Monsoon,"  in  which  it  was  believed  no  boat  could 
live,  made  us  sometimes  think  our  epitaph  would  be  **  Left 
Zanzibar  on  30th  April  1864,  and  never  more  heard  o£"  At 
last,  in  the  beginning  of  June  the  chronometers  showed  that 
we  were  near  the  Indian  coast.  The  black  men  believed  it  was 
true  because  we  told  them  it  was  so,  but  only  began  to  dance 
with  joy  when  they  saw  sea-weed  and  serpents  floating  past. 
These  serpents  are  peculiar  to  these  parts,  and  are  mentioned 
as  poisonous  in  the  sailing  directions.  We  ventured  to  pre- 
dict that  we  should  see  land  next  morning,  and  at  midday  the 
high  coast  hove  in  sight,  wonderfully  like  Africa  before  the 

w 

rains  begin.  Then  a  haze  covered  all  the  land,  and  a  heavy 
swell  beat  towards  it.  A  rock  was  seen,  and  a  latitude  showed 
it  to  be  the  Choule  rock.  Making  that  a  fresh  starting-point, 
we  soon  found  the  light-ship,  and  then  the  forest  of  masts 
loomed  through  the  haze  in  Bombay  harbour.  We  had 
sailed  over  2500  miles.  The  vessel  was  so  small,  that  no 
one  noticed  our  arrival. 


Chap.  XXIX.  RECAPITULATION.  585 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

CONCLUSIOX.  -    ' 

Bccapiiulation  of  the  results  of  the  Expedition  —  Didooyery  of  a  port,  and  a 
means  of  tmnsit  to  healthy  highlands  —  Fertility  of  soil —  Indigo  —  Cotton 
—  Climate  and  soil  admirably  suited  for  its  cultivation  —  Large  cotton-bushes 
of  interior — Tobacco  and  castor-oil  plants,  and  sugar-cane  —  Grasses — Con- 
tinuous crops  —  Fat  cattle  —  Droughts  —  Hard  woods  common  —  Timber 
scarce  —  Sarsaparilla — Oalumba-root  —  Fibrous  and  oil-yielding  plants  and 
trees — Want  of  heart  to  describe  discoveries  in  Africa —  Gloom  of  the  slave- 
trade  —  Different  vrays  in  which  it  is  carried  on  —  Direct  European  agency 
in  the  traffic — Kapoleon  IH.  —  "Engag^  system"  —  Slave-trade  a  barrier 
to  all  progress  —  Its  effects  on  slave-owners'  countiy — Cause  of  the  war  in 
America  —  Similar  effect  of  centuries  of  barbarism  on  African  and  other 
nations — The  African  physically,  his  lightheartedness  —  Fitness  for  servitude 
not  attributable  to  climate  —  Form  of  Government  Patriarchal — African  • 
stagnation  from  same  cause  as  that  of  other  nations  —  Man  on  imconscious 
co-operator  —  Guided  by  wisdom  not  his  own  —  Is  the  greatest  power 
derivable  from  science  reserved  for  Christians?  —  The  African's  capability 
for  Christianity —  Kindness  the  best  road  to  the  heart  —  Sierra  Leone  Mis- 
sions —  Sunday  at  Sierra  Leone  —  Statement  of  Capt.  Burton  —  Statistics 
of  Sierra  Leone  —  Continuance  of  Lord  Palmerston's  policy  needed  —  Trade 
returns  —  Colonel  Ord's  report  —  Influences  of  Settlements  —  Mortality  on 
board  the  West  Coast  Squadron —  Treatment  of  fever  —  Missionary  Societies 
on  West  Coast  —  Our  American  Missionary  brethren  —  Suggestions  for  a 
solution  of  our  Convict  Question — Colonel  Ord  on  Settlements. 

It  may  be  useful  to  recount  the  more  important  results 
enumerated  in  the  foregoing  pages.  Among  the  first  the 
discovery  of  a  port  which  could  easily  be  made  available 
for  commercial  purposes,  and  of  the  exact  value  of  the 
Zambesi  as  a  speedy  means  of  transit  to  that  interior  of  high- 
lands, which  in  all  probability  will  yet  become  the  sphere  of 
European  enterprise.  The  condition  in  which  the  river  will  be 
found  at  its  lowest  has  been  carefully  ascertained,  and  stated 
in  the  same  way  as  the  depth  of  harbours  usually  is,  namely, 
at  low  water.    However  much  higher  the  waters  of  the  Zam- 


586  FERTILITY  OF  SOIL.  Chap.  XXIX. 

besi  and  Shire  may  be  found  during  several  months  of  the 
year,  they  will  never  be  found  lower  than  what  we  have 
mentioned. 

The  fertility  of  the  soil  has  been  amply  proved  by  its 
productions.  Indigo,  for  instance,  has  been  found  growing 
wild  over  large  tracts  of  country,  and  often  attains  the  height 
of  a  man.  It  has  probably  been  introduced  from  India,  but 
a  species  was  found  at  Lake  Nyassa  equally  tall,  though  it 
differs  from  that  on  the  Zambesi  in  having  straight  instead 
of  curved  pods.  In  order  to  remove  all  doubt  as  to  the  value 
of  the  lat&r  sort,  Dr.  Kirk  extracted  some  of  the  colouring 
matter  from  the  indigo  growing  wild  at  Shupanga,  and  it 
exhibited  the  peculiar  coppery  streak  when  a  scratch  was 
made  on  it,  which  is  characteristic  of  the  best  article  of 
commerce. 

The  cotton  collected  from  a  great  many  districts  of  the 
country  was  found  to  be  of  very  superior  quality.  Large  spaces 
are  so  much  impregnated  vdth  salt  that  an  efflorescence  of  it 
appears  all  over  the  surface.  In  these  spaces  superior  cotton  flou- 
rishes with  very  little  care.  We  saw  some  men  who  had  been 
employed  to  take  canoes  down  to  the  coast,  sitting  on  the  bank, 
on  soil  like  this,  cleaning  and  spinning  their  cotton.  When  we 
returned  twelve  months  afterwards,  the  seeds  thrown  away 
had  germinated,  flourished,  and  yielded  cotton  wool,  which, 
when  sent  to  Manchester,  was  pronounced  to  be  twopence  per 
pound  better  in  quality  than  common  New  Orleans ;  and  not 
only  is  the  cotton  produced  of  good  quality,  but  it  is  persistent 
in  the  soil  to  an  extent  quite  unknown  in  America.  We 
have  observed  cotton-bushes  yielding  vigorously  in  parts 
where  they  had  not  only  to  struggle  for  existence  against 
grass  towering  over  their  heads,  but  had  for  at  least  ten 
years  to  bear  up  against  the  fires  which  annually  burnt 
down  them  and  the  grass  together. 


Chap.  XXIX.       SOIL  WELL  ADAPTED  FOR  COTTON.  587 

During  Dr.  Livingstone's  journey  from  Loanda  on  the  West 
Coast  to  Qmllimane  on  the  East  Coast,  no  particular  attention 
was  paid  to  the  plant,  because  the  question  of  cotton  supply 
was  then  but  little  mooted.  The  statements  made  sub- 
sequently in  England  embodied  only  the  results  of  casual 
observation,  but  they  led  to  an  official  inquiry  by  the  Por- 
tuguese Government,  and  Dr.  Welweitch,  a  botanist  well 
qualified  from  his  general  attainments  and  long  residence  in 
Angola,  conducted  the  investigation.  T)t.  Livingstone's  im- 
pressions as  to  the  fitness  of  Angola  for  the  growth  of  cotton 
were  abundantly  borne  out  by  this  gentleman's  report. 

Our  late  investigations  prove  that  the  former  statements 
as  to  the  suitability  of  the  climate  and  soil  north  of  the  15*^ 
or  16°  of  south  latitude  were  very  much  within  the  truth. 
In  fjEirCt,  the  region  indicated  is  preeminently  a  cotton-field ; 
crops  never  running  any  danger  of  being  cut  off  by  frost.  The 
natives  have  paid  a  good  deal  of  attention  to  the  cultivation 
of  the  plant,  and  find  that  the  best  requires  renewal  only 
once  in  three  years. 

No  cotton-plants  were  observed  in  the  middle  of  the  country 
during  Dr.  Livingstone's  journey  across  Africa,  but  our  atten- 
tion had  since  been  so  carefully  directed  to  the  subject  that 
a  single  cotton-bush  never  escaped  observation.  We  found 
that  not  only  was  the  plant  well  known  to  the  people  of 
the  interior,  but  that  a  variety  not  met  with  on  either  Coast 
was  under  cultivation  inland.  Thus,  for  instance,  the  Bazi- 
zulu  living  near  the  Kafue  had  a  variety  yielding  cotton 
of  very  fine  quality  and  long  staple,  which  can  only  be 
described  as  of  the  Pemambuco  kind ;  and  at  Sesheke  the 
stem  of  a  tree  of  this  species  had  attained  a  diameter  of 
eight  inches,  and  was  so  tall  that  Dr.  Eirk  had  to  climb  up 
it  for  specimens  as  one  would  up- an  apple-tree. 

Two  other  varieties  were  found  cultivated  over  large  tracts 


588  TOBACCO— CASTOB-OIL  PLANT.        Chap.  XXIX 

of  country.  The  indigenous  kind  had  nearly  been  super- 
seded by  a  very  superior  sort  called  "  foreign  cotton."  This 
had  been  introduced  by  the  natives  themselves ;  and  the  dis- 
trict included  in  the  Shire  Valley  and  shores  adjacent  to 
Lake  Nyassa,  in  which  it  abounds,  is  about  400  miles  in 
length,  and  may  confidently  be  stated  as  one  of  the  finest 
cotton-fields  in  the  world.  Cotton  already  cultivated  there 
is  superior  to  common  American,  and  nearly  equal  to  Egirp- 
tian.  The  favourable  soil  and  climate  render  it  probable  that 
with  skill  in  cultivation  this  country  might  be  made  to  excel 
many  others. 

In  further  illustration  of  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  we  found 
that  those  plants  which  require  much  care  in  the  cultivation 
in  other  countries  grow  wild  here  as  well  as  cotton.  Tobacco, 
though  a  delicate  plant,  was  frequently  foimd  growing  self- 
sown.  The  Ricinus  communis,  or  castor-oil  plant,  was  met 
with  everywhere  under  similar  circumstances.  In  some 
parts  indigo  is  known  by  the  name  of  "  occupier  of  deserted 
gardens,"  from  its  habit  of  springing  up  wherever  it  has  a 
chance.  Sugar-cane  is  not  a  self-planter,  but  it  blossoms, 
and  when  cultivated  in  rich  loam  grows,  without  manure,  as 
large  as  that  which  can  only  be  reared  by  the  help  of  guano 
in  the  Mauritius  and  Bourbon;  and,  from  crystals  at  once 
appearing  on  the  cut  surfaces,  seems  to  contain  much  sugar. 

In  addition  to  these  evidences  of  the  richness  of  the  soil, 
we  have  the  face  of  the  country  in  the  lowlands  covered  with 
gigantic  grasses ;  they  tower  over  men  s  heads,  and  render 
hunting  quite  impossible.  The  inhabitants  of  Natal  and  of 
the  Cape  colony  will  understand  us  perfectly,  when  we  say 
that  the  low  belt  adjacent  to  the  East  Coast,  from  one  to 
three  hundred  miles  broad,  is  "  zour  velt"  and  well  suited  for 
cattle.  In  fact,  the  only  fault  that  can  be  found  with  the 
soil  is  its  over  luxuriance ;  and  though  Speke  and  Grant  men- 
tion a  very  fertile  zone  near  the  Equator,  we  cannot  conceive 
that  it  exhibits  greater  fecundity  than  the  districts  between 


Chap.  XXIX  FAT  CATTLE— DROUGHTS.  589 

10°  and  15°  Sonth,  otherwise  it  would  be  perfectly  impassable. 
On  the  islands  in  the  Shire  crops  are  raised  continuously, 
without,  any  regard  to  the  season,  and,  by  irrigation,  wheat 
during  the  four  colder  months.  Europeans  can  always  secure 
one  crop  of  European  corn  and  two  or  three  of  maize  annually. 

On  the  highlands  the  natural  grasses  are  less  luxuriant, 
but  the  average  crop  is  as  heavy  as  could  be  obtained  from 
rich  meadow-land  in  England.  This  self-sown  pasturage, 
which  extends  over  hundreds  of  miles  of  grassy  valley  and 
open  woodland,  is  the  best  in  Africa.  This  was  shown  by 
the  cattle,  which  were  left  almost  in  a  wild  state,  becoming 
so  fat  and  lazy  that  bulls  allowed  the  boys  to  play  with  them, 
and  to  jump  on  their  backs.  We  have  seen  cows  feeding  on 
grass  alone  become  as  heavy  as  prize  beasts. 

In  general  no  tsetse  is  found  on  the  highlands  to  injure 
cattle,  nor  mosquitoes  to  annoy  man. 

It  would  not  be  fair,  while  giving  the  results  of  our  inquiries, 
to  keep  out  of  view  one  serious  drawback,  which  we  believe 
is  characteristic  of  every  part  of  Central  Africa.  Periodical 
droughts  must  be  expected.  If  a  rainy  zone  exists  under 
the  Equator,  that  is  the  only  exception  known.  These 
droughts  are  always  partial,  but  may  prevail  over  areas  of 
from  one  to  three  hundred  miles  in  extent.  Our  inquiries 
led  us  to  believe  that  from  10°  to  15°  South  they  may  be 
looked  for  once  in  every  ten  or  fifteen  years,  and  from  15°  to  20° 
South  once  in  every  five  years.  What  the  cause  of  them  may 
be,  we  cannot  tell ;  but  lack  of  vegetation  cannot  be  assigned 
as  any  reason  either  for  their  occurrence,  or  greater  frequency 
now  than  at  any  former  period.  The  hills  are  covered  with 
trees  and  grass  to  their  summits.  The  valleys  are  often 
encumbered  with  profuse  and  rank  vegetation — but  suddenly, 
and  without  any  warning,  the  years  of  plenty  are  succeeded 
by  one  iu  which  there  is  neither  earing  nor  harvest.  A  shower 
has  fallen  on  one  spot  a  mile  square ;  there  the  grass  has 
sprung  up,  but  has  died  off  again.    The  rest  of  the  country 


590  HARD  WOODS  COMMON.  Chap.  XXIX. 

is  parched  and  burnt^  the  grass  of  the  preceding  year,  which 
may  have  escaped  the  annual  fibres^  is  discoloured  and  cmmbles 
into  powder  in  the  hand ;  and  the  leaves  of  the  trees^  though 
alive,  look  withered.  One  who  had  seen  the  landscape  in 
all  its  glorious  freshness  and  verdure  after  rains,  could 
scarcely  believe  that  the  brown  and  dusty  world  before  him 
was  ever  green. 

Though  the  country  is  well  supplied  with  trees,  really 
large  timbet  is  to  be  obtained  only  in  limited  districts.  The 
Gunda  is  valuable  for  its  durability  and  size,  and  is  hollowed 
out  into  canoes  capable  of  carrying  two  or  three  tons  eeu^h. 
The  Mosokoso  and  Mukundu-kundu  also  are  good  timber  trees. 
The  Lignum-vit8B  attains  a  larger  size  here  than  anywhere 
else.  We  have  measured  specimens  four  feet  in  diameter ; 
but  though  the  wood  is  in  appearance  exactly  like  the  lignum- 
vitsB  of  other  countries  it  is  said  to  be  inferior  in  toughness. 
Africa  is  more  remarkable  for  the  abundance  of  its  hard 
woods  than  for  its  timber.  African  ebony,  or  black  wood, 
though  not  the  same  botanically  as  the  ebony  of  commerce^ 
attains  a  large  size  and  is  of  a  deeper  black.  It  abounds  on 
the  Eovuma,  within  eight  miles  of  the  sea,  and  so  do  other 
valuable  woods,  as  for  instance,  the  Fustic,  which  yields  a 
permanent  yellow  dye.  The  Molompi  is  widely  distributed, 
and  seems  to  be  identical  with  the  Pterocarpus  erinaceu^y 
which  produces  the  African  kino  on  the  West  Coast ;  for  when 
wounded  it  exudes  large  quantities  of  gum  resembling  this 
drug.  The  wood  is  excellent  for  paddles  and  oars,  from  its 
toughness  and  lightness.  In  addition  to  these  we  have  the 
Mopane,  or  iron-wood,  and  the  Mangroves,  which  are  much 
esteemed  for  rafters. 

A  species  of  sarsaparilla,  probably  SmUax  JSj'ausiana,  is 
abundant  on  the  highlands ;  Calumba^root  on  the  plains ; 
the  Buaze,  with  a  fibre  stronger  and  finer  than  flax,  and  the 
fibrous  Sansiviera,  or  ife,  are  both  common.  The  Buaze,  the 
Motsikiri,  the  Boma,-— one  of  the  Sterculias,  and  a  species  of 


€hap.  XXIX.  GLOOM  OP  SLAVE-TRADe!  591 

mahogany — all  yield  oil,  or-  a  kind  of  oleaginous  matter ; 
the  oa  of  the  Baaze  has  fine  drying  properties. 

In  addition  to  these  wild  prc^ucts  we  haye  the  Sesamum 
widely  and  extensively  cultivated ;  from  its  ^seeds,  which  are 
now  an  article  of  export,  and  ground-nuts,  most  of  the  salad 
oil  used  in  England  is  expressed,  A  large  species  of  cu- 
cumber called  Makaka  is  much  cultivated  by  the  natives, 
both  as  an  article  of  food  and  for  the  S6tke  of  its  fine  oil. 

We  confess  that  we  do  not  attempt  to  describe  the 
productions  of  the  country  with  that  fulness  they  deserve, 
nor  with  that  hopeful  heartiness  we  once  felt.  Nor  do  wo 
cite  the  discoveries  of  Lakes  Shirwa  and  Nyassa,  or  the 
patient  examination  of  the  Zambesi  to  a  point  beyond  the 
Victoria  Falls,  or  other  important  geographical  feats,  with 
any  degree  of  pride.  These  were  all  incidental  to  our 
main  design.  What  we  have  seen  of  the  slave-trade  has 
thrown  a  gloom  over  alL  Our  notes  tell  of  a  coimtry 
entirely  different  from  most  preconceived  notions  of  Africa ; 
and  though  in  the  cozy  room,  which  by  grace  we  occupy 
in  Newstead  Abbey,  the  eye  now  falls  on  the  lawn  all 
covered  with  snow,  it  is  no  diflScult  task  to  recall  the 
bright  warm  glow  reflected  from  East  African  ghauts.  We 
can  easily  fancy  the  slopes  furrowed  |by  valleys  lined  with 
trees,  with  here  and  there  a  rocky  bluff  jutting  out.  Or  we 
can  bring  back  to  our  memory  the  rich  upland  plateaux  like 
open  prairies  covered  with  grass,  or  dotted  over  with  clumps 
of  foliage,  and  watered  by  numerous  streams,  all  bathed  in 
a  flood  of  sunlight;  but  thatgsad  slave-trade  hangs  like  a 
pall  over  the  whole.  The  picturesque  imdulations,  the  deep 
gorges  and  ravines  leading  down  from  the  edges  of  the  table- 
lands to  lower  levels  where  the  Shire  meanders  in  green 
meadows  like  a  silver  thread,  or  the  broad  lake,  backed  with  its 
mountain  masses,  can  all  be  pictured  to  the  mind's  eye ;  but 
their  natural  beauties  are  now  inseparably  associated  with 
human  sorrow  and  woe. 


592  VARIETIES  OF  SLAVING.  Chap.  XXIX. 

We  have  been  careful  to  mention  in  the  text  the  different 
ways  in  which  the  slave-trade  is  carried  on,  because  we  believe 
that,  though  this  odious  traffic  baffled  many  of  our  efforts  to 
ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  natives,  our  Expedition  is  the 
first  that  ever  saw  slavery  at  its  fountain-head,  and  in  all  its 
phases.  The  assertion  has  been  risked,  because  no  one  was 
in  a  condition  to  deny  it,  that  the  slave-trade  was  like  any 
other  branch  of  conmierce,  subject  to  the  law  of  supply  and 
demand,  and  that  therefore  it  ought  to  be  free.  From  what 
we  have  seen,  it  involves  so  much  of  murder  in  it,  as  an 
essential  element,  that  it  can  scarcely  be  allowed  to  remain 
in  the  catalogue  of  commerce,  any  more  than  garotting, 
thuggee,  or  piracy. 

We  have  the  system  nearest  to  that  of  justice,  indeed  the 
only  one  that  approaches  it,  when  the  criminal  is  sold  for  his 
crimes.  Then,  on  the  plea  of  witchcraft,  the  child  taken  from 
the  poorer  classes  of  parents  as  a  fine,  or  to  pay  a  debt,  and  sold 
to  a  travelling  native  slave-trader.  Then  children  kidnapped  by 
a  single  robber,  or  by  a  gang  going  from  their  own  village  to 
neighbouring  hamlets,  to  steal  the  children  who  are  out  drawing 
water  or  gathering  wood.  We  have  seen  places  where  every 
house  was  a  stockade,  and  yet  the  people  were  not  safe.  Next 
comes  the  system  of  retaliation  of  one  hamlet  against  another 
to  make  reprisals,  and  the  same  thing  on  a  larger  scale 
between  tribes;  the  portion  of  the  tribe  which  flees  be- 
comes vagrant,  and  eventually  armed  with  muskets,  the 
produce  of  previous  slaving,  attacks  peaceful  tribes,  and 
depopulates  the  country  for  the  supply  of  the  ocean  slave- 
trade.  Again,  we  have  the  slave-traders  from  the  Coast, 
who  may  be  either  Arabs  or  half-caste  Portuguese.  For 
them  slaves  are  collected,  by  the  natives  who  possess  most 
of  a  commercial  turn,  along  the  most  frequented  routes. 
In  this  branch  the  Ajawa  and  Babisa  are  conspicuous. 
The  lowering  effects  of  this  trade  in  man  are  quite  appa- 
rent even  in  the  natives.    The  Ajawa  and  Babisa,  though 


Chap.  XXIX.         EUROPEAN  SLAVE  AGENCY.  593 

superior  in  intellect  to  many  others,  are  so  thoroughly  de- 
graded morally,  that  they  have  been  known  to  sell^  for  a 
tusk  that  took  their  fency,  their  own  daughters  or  newly- 
married  wives.  The  members  of  the  same  tribes  who  are 
settled,  and  have  never  engaged  in  slaving,  would  be  shocked 
at  the  bare  mention  of  such  enormities. 

And  lastly,  we  have  still  another  and  more  ample  source  of 
supply  for  the  ocean  slave-trade,  and  we  regret  to  say  the 
means  for  its  success  are  drawn  directly  from  Europeans. 
Trading  parties  are  sent  out  from  Portuguese  and  Arab  coast 
towns  with  large  quantities  of  muskets,  ammunition,  cloth, 
and  beads.  The  two  last  articles  are  used  for  paying  their 
way  during  the  earlier  part  of  the  journey  from  the  Coast, 
and  for  the  purchase  of  ivory.  From  a  great  number  of  cases 
we  have  examined,  these  slaving-parties  seem  to  preserve  the 
mercantile  character  for  a  large  portion  of  the  trip.  They 
usually  settle  down  with  some  Chieftain  and  cultivate  the 
soil ;  but  we  know  of  no  instance  in  which  they  have  not,  at 
one  part  of  their  journey,  joined  one  tribe  in  attacking  another 
for  the  sake  of  the  captives  they  could  take.  This  is  so  fre- 
quent an  occurrence,  that  the  system  causes  a  frightful  loss  of 
life.  The  bow  cannot  stand  for  a  moment  against  the  musket. 
Flight,  starvation,  and  death  ensue ;  and  we  must  again  record 
our  conviction  that  the  mortality  after  these  slave  wars,  in 
addition  to  the  losses  on  the  journey  to  the  Coast  and  during 
the  middle  passage,  makes  it  certain  that  not  more  than  one 
in  five  ever  reach  the  "  kind  masters  "  in  Cuba  and  elsewhere, 
v^hom,  according  to  slave-owners'  interpretation  of  Scripture, 
Providence  intended  for  them. 

The  Portuguese  at  Tette  followed  the  last  of  these  systems. 
The  waste  of  life  we  witnessed  is  beyond  description.  As 
members  of  the  medical  profession  our  eyes  were  familiar 
with  scenes  truly  sad  enough,  but  this  misery  by  the  slave- 
trade  fairly  outstrips  all  v^e  ever  saw.  Part  of  the  captives 
realized  were  sent  up  the  Zambesi  above  Tette  to  be  sold  for 

2  Q 


594  THE  FRENCH  SYSTEM.  Chap.  XXIX. 

ivory — a  woman  fetched  two  arrobas,  or  sixty  pounds  weight 
A  large  portion  of  the  males  were  sent  to  Bourbon.  We 
were  witnesses  of  both  these  modes  of  disposing  of  the  cap- 
tives, as  well  as  of  the  results  following  their  capture.  We 
again  allude  to  this  nauseating  subject,  because  it  is  of  im- 
portance to  observe  that  all  this  waste  of  life  happened  under 
the  direction  of  an  enlightened  and  far-reaching  intelligence. 
His  Majesty,  Napoleon  III.,  meant  to  supply  the  lack  of  labour 
in  Bourbon  by  engaging  free  emigrants  from  Africa.  A  Govern- 
ment Officer  was  appointed  over  every  vessel,  and  he  ^-as  to 
see  that  the  engagements  with  the  natives  were  just  and  fair ; 
that  no  overcrowding  took  place,  and  that  proper  food  was 
supplied  in  sufficient  quantity.  With  all  the  Emperor's  care, 
his  policy  actually  produced  the  eflFects  which  we  witnessed. 
It  became  the  accursed  slave-trade  in  an  aggravated  form, 
and  with  a  powerftd,  energetic  Government  to  back  it  All 
honour  to  the  Emperor  for  freeing  his  people  from  the  calamity 
of  being  engaged  in  slaving ;  and  to  our  Government  for 
patiently  pointing  out  the  evils  of  which  he  was  unconsciously 
guilty,  and,  at  considerable  sacrifice,  enabling  a  supply  of 
labour  to  be  exported  from  India.  That  there  may  be  no 
mistake  in  supposing  that  we  have  been  misled  in  ascribing 
the  sad  efiects  we  have  faintly  described  to  the  enlightened 
and  careful  "French  engag^  system,"  we  will  mention  one  of 
the  proofs.  When  we  were  at  Johanna,  a  ^  free  emigrant," 
who  had  been  bought  at  Kilwa  for  twenty-two  dollars,  swam 
on  board  the  Pioneer  from  a  vessel  long  known  at  the  Cape 
as  the  Mazurka,  but  then  belonging  to  a  French  owner,  and 
under  the  supervision  of  the  French  Government  Officer. 
This  emigrant  had  slipped  overboard  from  the  Mazurka  at 
early  dawn,  when  she  was  getting  under  way ;  and  we  found 
that  he  was  a  Manganja,  and  had  actually  come  from  Banda. 
We  saw  also  the  Manganja  "  free  emigrants"  going  down  in 
canoe-loads  cJiained,  The  Commandant  of  Tette  remarked, 
with  a  grin,  "  You  can't  interfere  with  us  now  that  we  have 


Chap.  XXIX.  SLAVERY  IN  AMERICA.  596 

the  French  flag  to  support  us."  We  thought  that  there  were 
thousands  in  France  who  would  have  kicked  him  for  his 
compliment  to  the  tricolor. 

The  result  of  our  observation  of  the  actueJ  working  of  the 
slave-trade  at  its  source  is,  that  it  must  prove  an  insurmount- 
able barrier  to  all  moral  and  commercial  progress.  The 
different  English  statesmen,  who  have  laboured  for  its  sup- 
pression, have  shown  profound  wisdom  and  great  political  fore- 
sight. Instead  of  viewing  our  leading  politicians  as  eager  only 
for  place  and  power,  the  efforts  of  Liberals  and  Conservatives 
in  this  one  direction  would  tend  to  prove  them,  in  the  widest 
sense,  promoters  of  peace  and  good-will  among  men.  The 
truth  of  this  will  become  more  evident,  if  we  reflect  on  the 
ultimate  effects  of  the  trafiSc.  It  perpetuates  barbarism  in 
the  country  from  which  the  slaves  are  drawn,  and  it  has  a 
most  injurious  influence  on  the  land  to  which  they  are  taken. 
The  introduction  of  African  labourers  to  compete  with 
Europeans  renders  labour  unpopular  among  the  latter,  and 
throws  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  progress  of  society ; 
because  nothing  tends  more  to  elevate  a  people  than  that  the 
best  minds  should  be  bent  to,  and  delight  in,  labour  dignified 
by  being  undertaken  for  the  general  improvement 

We  would  speak  tenderly  of  the  terrible  revolution  now 
going  on  in  America,  which  is  so  destructive  to  life  and 
property;  for  we  deeply  deplore  the  sufferings  of  our 
brethren — ^the  sad  effects  of  slavery.  The  war  is  entirely 
due  to  the  presence  in  one  section  of  that  great  country 
of  a  slave  population,  whose  number  does  not  form  more 
than  one-sixth  part  of  the  entire  American  community. 
The  introduction  of  an  inferior  race  from  a  barbarous 
country  was  a  great  mistake.  To  degrade  and  deny  that 
race  the  rights  of  manhood,  a  still  greater  blunder;  for 
the  debasement  was  sure  to  react  on  the  master  and  on  his 
children.  In  fact,  the  degradation  of  the  slave  must  not 
only  demoralize  the  master,  but  probably  the  master  is  the 

2  Q  2 


596  THE  AFRICAN  PHYSICALLY.  Chap.  XXIX. 

greater  loser  of  the  two.  Then  the  presence  of  millions  of  a 
degraded  race  makes  amalgamation  or  transportation  im- 
possible ;  there  they  must  remain ;  if  they  cannot  be  elevated, 
they  must  prove  a  down-drag,  a  moral  millstone  on  the 
neck,  an  evil  beyond  remedy;  a  severe  retribution  on 
the  descendants  of  those  who  were  goaded  on  by  our  own 
forefathers  in  the  slave-trade.  But  we  do  not  believe  in  any 
incapacity  of  the  African  in  either  mind  or  heart ;  and  our 
American  brethren  deserve  our  warmest  sympathy  in  the 
gigantic  task  before  them.  From  the  evils  connected  with 
the  slave-trade  our  statesmen  have  nobly  striven  to  rescue 
and  defend  us ;  and  no  reasonable  expense,  that  preserves  us 
from  contamination,  should  be  esteemed  a  sacrifice :  if  we 
escape,  it  is  not  because,  as  a  nation,  we  are  innocent 

In  reference  to  ,the  status  of  the  Africans  among  the 
nations  of  the  earth,-  .we  have  seen  nothing  to  justify  the 
notion  that  they  are  .of  a  difierent  "  breed  "  or  "  species  "  from 
the  most  civilized.  The  African  is  a  man  with  every  attri- 
bute of  human  kind.  Centuries  of  barbarism  have  had  the 
same  deteriorating  effects  on  Africans,  as  Pritchard  describes 
them  to  have  had  on  certaia  of  the  Irish  who  were  driven, 
some  generations  back,  to.tlie  hills  in  Ulster  and  Connaught. 
And  these  depressing  influences  have  had  such  moral  and 
physical  effects  on  some  tribes,  that  ages  probably  will  be 
required  to  undo  what  ages  have  done.  This  degradation, 
however,  would  hardly  be  given  as  a  reason  for  holding  any 
race  in  bondage,  unless  the  advocate  had  sunk  morally  to  the 
same  low  state.  Apart  from  the  frightful  loss  of  life  in  the 
process  by  which,  it  is  pretended,  the  negroes  are  better  pro- 
vided for  than  in  a  state  of  liberty  in  their  own  country,  it 
is  this  very  system  that  perpetuates,  if  not  causes,  the  un- 
happy condition  with  which  the  comparative  comfort  of  some 
of  them  in  slavery  is  contrasted. 

Ethnologists  reckon  the  African  as  by  no  means  the  lowest 
of  the  human  family.     He  is  nearly  as  strong  physically  as 


Chap.  XXIX.  HIS  APTITUDE  FOR  SERVICE.  597 

the  European,  and,  as  a  race,  is  wonderfiilly  persistent  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth.  Neither  the  diseases  nor  the  ardent 
spirits  which  proved  so  fatal  to  North  American  Indians, 
South  Sea  Islanders,  and  Australians,  seem  capable  of  anni- 
hilating the  negroes.  Even  when  subjected  to  that  system  so 
destructive  to  human  life,  by  which  they  are  torn  from  their 
native  soil,  they  spring  up  irrepressibly  and  darken  half  the 
new  continent.  They  are  gifted  by  nature  with  physical 
strength  capable  of  withstanding  the  sorest  privations,  and  a 
lightheartedneas  which,  as  a  sort  of  compensation,  enables 
them  to  make  the  best  of  the  worst  situations.  It  is  like  that 
power  which  the  human  frame  possesses  of  withstanding  heat, 
and  to  an  extent  which  we  should  never  have  known,  had  not 
an  adventurous  surgeon  gone  into  an  oven  and  burnt  his 
fingers  with  his  own  watch.  The  Africans  have  wonderfully 
borne  up  under  unnatural  conditions,  that  would  have  proved 
fatal  to  most  races. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  power  of  resistance  under  calamity, 
or,  as  some  would  say,  adaptation  for  a  life  of  servitude,  is  pecu- 
liar only  to  certain  tribes  on  the  Continent  of  Africa.    Climate 
cannot  be  made  to  account  for  the  fact  that  many  would  pine 
in  a  state  of  slavery,  or  voluntarily  perish.     No  Krooman  can 
be  converted  into  a  slave,  and  yet  he  is  an  inhabitant  of  the 
low,  unhealthy  West  Coast.     Nor  can  any  of  the  Zulu  or 
Kaffir  tribes  be  reduced  to  bondage,  though  all  these  live 
on    comparatively   elevated  regions.      We    have  heard   it 
stated  by  men  familiar  with  some  of  the  Kaffirs,  that  a  blow, 
given  even  in  play  by  a  European,  must  be  returned.     A  love 
of  liberty  is  observable  in  all  who  have  the  Zulu  blood,  as  the 
Makololo,  the  Watuta,  and  probably  the  Masai.     But  blood 
does  not  explain  the  fact,    A  beautiful  Barotse  woman  at 
Naliele,  on  refusing  to  marry  a  man  whom  she  did   not 
like,  was  in  a  pet  given  by  the  headman  to  some  Mambari 
slave-traders  from  Benguela.     Seeing  her  fate,  she  seized  one 
of  their  spears,  and,  stabbing  herself,  fell  down  dead. 


598  PATRIARCHAL  GOVERNMENT.         Chap.  XXIX. 

The  African  form  of  government  is  patriarchal^  and,  ac- 
cording to  the  temperament  of  the  Chief,  despotic,  or  guided 
by  the  counsel  of  the  elders  of  the  triba  Reverence  for 
royalty  sometimes  leads  the  mass  of  the  people  to  submit  to 
great  cruelty,  and  even  murder,  at  the  hands  of  a  despot  or 
madman ;  but  on  the  whole  the  rule  is  mild,  and  the  same 
remark  applies  in  a  degree  to  their  religion.  The  races 
of  this  Continent  seem  to  have  advanced  to  a  certain  point 
and  no  further ;  their  progress  in  the  arts  of  working  iron  and 
copper,  in  pottery,  basket-making,  spinning,  weaving,  making 
nets,  fish-hooks,  spears,  axes,  knives,  needles,  and  other 
things,  whether  originally  invented  by  this  people  or  com- 
municated by  another  instructor,  appears  to  have  remained 
in  the  same  rude  state  for  a  great  number  of  centuries.  This 
apparent  stagnation  of  mind  in  certain  nations  we  cannot 
understand ;  but,  since  we  have  in  the  later  ages  of  the  world 
made  what  we  consider  great  progress  in  the  arts,  we  have 
unconsciously  got  into  the  way  of  speaking  of  some  other 
races  in  much  the  same  tone  as  that  used  by  the  Celestials  in 
the  Flowery  Land.  These  same  Chinese  anticipated  us  in 
several  most  important  discoveries  by  as  many  centuries  as  we 
may  have  preceded  others.  In  the  knowledge  of  the  proper- 
ties of  the  magnet,  the  composition  of  gunpowder,  the 
invention  of  printing,  the  manufacture  of  porcelain,  of  silk, 
and  in  the  progress  of  literature,  they  were  before  us.  But 
then  the  power  of  making  further  discoveries  was  arrested, 
and  a  stagnation  of  the  intellect  prevented  their  advancing 
in  the  path  of  improvement  or  invention. 

To  the  Asiatics  we  owe  cotton,  sugar,  clepsydras,  and  sun- 
dials. From  the  East  we  have  derived  algebra,  the  game  of 
chess,  coffee,  tea,  alcohol,  and  st^eL  The  servile  imitation, 
which  took  the  place  of  mental  activity  and  invention,  seems 
to  have  fallen  on  Chinese,  Japanese,  Asiatics,  Arabians,  and 
Africans  alika  Does  this  paralysis  of  the  inventive  faculties 
indicate  that  each  race  is  destined  to  perform  its  own  part  in 


Chap.  XXIX         UNCONSCIOUS  CO-OPERATION.  599 

the  one  vast  plan  of  creative  Providence,  of  which  our  finite 
minds  can  take  in  only  so  minute  a  portion  that  we  shall  never 
comprehend  it  as  a  whole  tiU  the  end  of  all  things  ?  In  our 
smaller  sphere  we  can  see  many  instances  of  unconscious  co- 
operation. Archbishop  Whately  points  out  the  example  of  the 
city  of  London,  "  a  province  covered  with  houses/'  supplied 
with  food  with  a  certainty,  completeness,  and  regularity  to 
which  probably  the  most  diligent  benevolence,  under  the 
guidance  of  the  greatest  human  wisdom,  could  never  have 
attained.  All  the  agency  in  this  case  is  made  up  of  men  who 
each  thinks  of  nothing  beyond  his  own  immediate  interest,  and 
yet  they  all  unconsciously  co-operate  in  carrying  on  a  system, 
which  no  human  wisdom  could  have  conducted  so  well.  If 
perfect  adaptation  of  means  to  ends  indicates  wisdom  and 
design,  we  have  in  this  instance  both  in  full  play ;  for  each 
man,  acting  by  motives  addressed  to  his  own  free  will,  advances 
as  regularly  and  passively  to  an  object,  which  the  co-operators 
as  a  whole  never  contemplated,  as  if  he  were  one  of  the 
wheels  of  a  machine.  The  proofs  of  man  in  society  being 
guided  by  wisdom  not  his  own,  and  to  beneficial  results  he 
never  intended,  are  abundant  wherever  the  human  race  is  so 
far  advanced  as  to  live  under  a  form  of  government  however 
rude ;  and  indicate  a  plan  of  Providence  which  will  at  last  be 
clear  to  all,  as  one  of  consummate  wisdom. 

The  stagnation  of  mind  in  certain  nations  which  have 
preceded  us  in  the  line  of  discovery  may  also  have  been 
intended,  in  order  that  the  greatest  power  derivable  from 
science  and  art  might  be  associated  with  the  religion  which 
proclaims  peace  and  good  will  to  man.  Had  the  power 
given  by  inventions  to  the  nations  of  Christendom  been 
awarded  in  the  natural  course  of  things  to  the  men  who  were 
first  in  the  ra»ce,  we  see  no  earthly  reason  why  the  Buddhists 
and  Mohammedans  should  not  now  have  lorded  it  over  us 
poor  islanders  with  steamers,  and  all  the  improvements  in 
artillery,  or  that  the   Lancashire  witches  and  Edinburgh 


600 


CAPABILITY  FOR  CHRISTIANITY.        Chap.  XXIX. 


"  bonny  lasses  "  should  not  now  have  been  exported  regularly 
to  the  harems  of  the  East.* 

We  have  been  so  often  asked  whether  the  Africans  were 
capable  of  embracing  the  Christian  religion,  that  we 
venture  to  make  the  following  observations,  although  our 
doing  so  may  appear  to  be  a  work  of  supererogation 
to  all  who  have  witnessed  the  effects  already  produced  in 
West  and  South  Africa  by  teaching  supplied  entirely  by 
private  benevolence,  or  who  have  watched  the  Missionary 
movements  of  various  Christian  Churches  during  the  last 
quarter  of  a  century.  The  question  seems  to  imply  a 
belief  on  the  part  of  those  who  put  it,  that  the  reception  of 
the  Gk>8pel  involves  a  high  development  and  exercise  of  the 
reasoning  powers.  Some  men,  indeed,  are  constitutionally 
prone  to  reason  out  every  subject  as  far  as  their  intellects  can 
lead  them;  but  those  who  are  led  through  life  by  pure 
reason  constitute  a  very  small  minority  of  any  race.  To 
quote  from  one  of  Sir  James  Stephen's  excellent  Historical 
Essays : — **  The  Apostles  assume  in  all  men  the  existence  of 
a  spiritual  ddsoemment,  enabling  the  mind,  when  unclouded  by 


*  The  peculiar  convexity  of  &ce, 
and  enoimons  size  of  ears,  which 
mark  the  AfHoan  species  of  elephant, 
are  so  clearly  defined  in  an  Egyptian 
sarcophagy  in  the  British  Museum,  of 
the  26th  Dynasty,  some  500  years 
before  our  era,  as  to  render  it  probable 
that  the  sculptor  saw  the  animal  alive ; 
and  it  is  more  tikely  that  it  was  a 
tame  one  than  that  the  sculptor  was 
a  traveller,  or  that  a  wild  elephant 
was  driven  down  to  Egypt.  The- 
elephants  used  by  the  Romans  and 
Oarthaginiaiis  were  certainly  African  ; 
and  in  a  treaty,  pointed  out  by  Mr.  B. 
S.  Poole,  the  Romans  bound  down  the 
Oarthaginians  not  to  tame  any  more 
elephams,  **  Perfugas,  fugitivosque, 
et  captivos  omnes  redderent  Romanis, 


et  naves  rostiutas,  prster  decern 
triremes,  traderent :  elephantasqne, 
quos  haberent  domitos,  neque  do- 
marent  alios." — ^Livy  xxx.  37.  This 
indicates  the  close  of  one  branch  of 
African  industry.  The  Egyptian 
monuments  show  that  other  wUd 
animals  also  were  tamed;  but  the 
stagnation  of  intellect  common  to  the 
later  Egyptians  and  other  tribes  on 
that  and  the  Indian  Continent,  seems 
to  have  taken  place  at  very  remote 
periods.  In  speaking  of  the  African 
race,  the  reader  will  observe  that  we  do 
not,  as  those  do  who  know  little  of  the 
great  interior,  take  the  neg^  inhabit- 
ing the  minute  fringe  by  the  low 
West  Coast  as  typical  of  the  whole 
family. 


Chap.  XXIX.         KINDNESS  MOST  EFFECTOAL.  601 

appetite  or  passion,  to  recognise  and  distinguish  the  Divine 
voice,  whether  uttered  from  within  by  the  intimations  of 
conscience,  or  speaking  from  without  in  the  language  of  the 
inspired  oracles ;  they  presuppose  that  vigour  of  reason  may 
consist  with  feebleness  of  understanding;  and  that  the  power 
of  discriminating  between  religious  truth  and  error  does  not 
chiefly  depend  on  the  culture  or  on  the  exercise  of  the  merely 
argumentative  faculty.  The  Grospel,  the  especial  patrimony 
of  the  poor  and  the  illiterate,  has  been  the  stay  of  millions 
who  never  framed  a  syllogism.  Of  the  great  multitudes  who, 
before  and  since  the  birth  of  Grotius,  have  lived  in  the 
peace  and  died  in  the  consolations  of  our  fetith,  how  incom- 
parably few  are  they  whose  convictions  have  been  derived 
from  argumentative  works  like  his  1" 

We  prefer  to  use  the  words  of  this  able  writer  rather  than 
our  own,  to  express  the  belief  that  our  divine  religion  suits 
the  lowest  as  well  as  the  highest  of  our  race.  But  in 
dealing  with  the  different  classes  of  the  human  family  the 
teaching  must  be  adapted  to  the  individual  circumstances. 
The  stately  ceremonial,  the  ritual  observances,  the  sedative 
sermon,  and  the  austere  look  of  those  who  think  it  right  to 
indulge  in  a  little  spiritual  pride,  may  suit  some  minds ;  but 
the  degraded  of  our  race  in  every  land  must  be  treated  in 
somewhat  the  same  manner  as  is  adopted  in  dealing  with 
the  outcasts  of  London.  Whether  we  approach  the  down- 
trodden victims  of  the  slave-trade  in  sultry  Africa,  or  our 
poor  brethren  in  the  streets,  who  have  neither  warmth, 
shelter,  nor  home,  we  must  employ  the  same  agency  to  secure 
their  confidence, — the  magic  power  of  kindness — a  charm 
which  may  be  said  to  be  one  of  the  discoveries  of  modem 
days.  This  charm  may  not  act  at  once,  nor  may  its  effects 
always  be  permanent ;  the  first  feeling  of  the  wretched,  of 
whatever  colour,  may  be  that  of  distrust ;  or  a  suspicion  that 
kindness  is  a  proof  of  weakness;  but  the  feelings  which 
the  severity  of  their  lot  has  withered  will  in  time  spring 


602  SUNDAY  AT  SIERRA  LEONK         Chap.  XXIX, 

up  like  the  tender  grass  after  rain.  It  was  the  fact  of  Bishop 
Mackenzie's  grappling  in  the  true  missionary  spirit  with 
the  gigantic  evil  of  the  country,  and  affording  a  home  and 
shelter  to  the  oppressed,  that  gave  him  so  soon  the  con- 
fidence of  the  people.  In  every  case  the  means  of  amelio- 
ration must  be  adapted  to  the  special  circumstances  of  the 
people.  Charity  must  adopt  every  effort  that  charity  can 
devise  to  rouse  the  slothful,  civilize  the  brutal,  instruct  the 
ignorant,  and  preach  the  Grospel  of  love  aad  mercy  to  alL 

With  respect  to  the  results  already  obtained  by  the  labours 
of  Missionaries,  we  have  been  led  to  the  discovery  of  some 
very  curious  and  unexpected  facts.  Having  visited  Sierra 
Leone  and  some  other  parts  of  the  West  Coast^  as  well  as 
a  great  part  of  South  Africa,  we  were  very  much  gratified  by 
the  evidences  of  success  which  came  under  our  own  personal 
observation.  The  crowds  of  well-dressed,  devout^  and  intel- 
ligent-looking worshippers,  in  both  the  West  and  South, 
formed  a  wonderful  contrast  to  the  same  people  still  in  their 
heathen  state.  At  Sierra  Leone,  Kuruman,  and  other  places, 
the  Sunday,  for  instance,  seemed  as  well  observed  as  it  is 
anywhere  in  Scotland.  The  sight  produced  an  indelible 
impression  on  the  mind,  that  England  had  done  an  amount 
of  good  by  her  philanthropy  that  will  be  recognised  and 
appreciated  by  posterity.  Had  we  not  previously  been  in- 
timately acquainted  by  long  personal  intercourse  with  the 
people  at  Kuruman,  who  have  enjoyed  nearly  half  a  century  of 
Mr.  Moffat's  missionary  labours,  and  had  we  not  known  the 
state  of  mind  of  the  stock  from  which  all  his  converts  had 
been  drawn,  we  might  have  been  misled,  and  have  given  a 
lower  value  to  the  appearances  presented  than  they  deserved. 
But  we  have  had  ample  opportunities  of  forming  an  estimate 
of  the  amount  of  real  Christianity  among  professing  converts ; 
and  we  are  satisfied  from  observation  and  inquiry  that  the 
assertion  of  Captain  Burton  that  Mohammedans  alone  make 
proselytes  in  Africa  is  not  correct ;   and  we  believe  that  in 


Chap.  XXIX.         CHRISTIANS  AND  MOHAMMEDANS.  603 

making  it  he  rather  intended  to  shock  the  prejudices  of 
those  whom  he  thought  weak-minded  than  to  state  a  fact 
The  quotation  of  this  statement  in  an  English  periodical 
led  us  to  make  a  few  inquiries,  the  results  of  which  we  give 
with  satisfSEtction,  because  wherever  Christianity  spreads  it 
makes  men  better. 

By  the  Government  census  of  1861  the  population  of  Sierra 
Leone  was  41,000  souls.  Of  the  entire  population  27,000  were 
Christians.  The  Mohammedans  numbered  altogether  1734 
souls,  which  does  not  seem  a  very  large  proportion  for  the 
sect  which  "alone  makes  proselytes.'*  In  1854  the  12,000 
Christians  in  the  Colony  belonging  to  the  Church  of  England 
took  the  entire  cost  of  the  schools,  £800  per  annum,  upon 
themselves.  We  are  not  aware  at  what  stage  of  the  growth 
of  the  native  churches  on  the  West  Coast  the  wish  to  support 
and  spread  the  religion  they  had  received  became  apparent ; 
but  in  1861  the  contributions  to  the  Church  Missionary  So- 
ciety for  this  purpose  among  these  African  Christians  had 
amounted  to  £10,000.  These  facts  show  pretty  conclusively 
that  they  have  an  earnest  desire  to  communicate  the  bless- 
ings they  have  received  to  their  children  and  to  others. 

No  attempt  has  been  made  to  collect  information  from 
all  the  African  Missions,  but  from  the  replies  of  un- 
impeachable witnesses  it  appears  that  the  contributions 
from  negroes  in  the  West  Indies,  and  in  West  and  South 
Africa,  for  the  support  and  spread  of  the  Christian  Faith, 
amount  to  upwards  of  £15,000  annually.  We  therefore 
repeat,  that  while  in  exceptional  cases  Mohammedans  have 
propagated  their  religion,  and  at  the  same  time  gratified 
their  lust  of  plunder  or  selfishness,  the  rule  is,  that  native 
Christians  make  sacrifices  of  their  property  to  spread  Chris- 
tianity, though  always  instructed  that  they  never  thereby 
purchase  their  own  salvation. 

Having  failed  to  find  the  grounds  on  which  the  spread  of 
Mohammedanism  is  asserted  as  a  fact,  we  cannot  help  associat- 


604 


LORD  PALMERSTON'S  POLICY.        Chap.  XXIX. 


ing  the  assertion  with  others  made  agamst  the  English  anti- 
slave-trade  policy,  which,  on  examination  on  the  spot,  we 
found  to  be  groundless.  These  latter  seem  to  have  emanated 
from  traders  on  the  Coast,  who  in  their  cups  would  have  no  ob- 
jection to  see  the  slave-trade  revived.  With  aU  due  deference 
to  our  countrymen  abroad,  and  in  spite  of  the  conviction  that 
they  have  a  higher  sense  of  justice  than  the  members  of  some 
other  nations,  we  must  confess  that  the  low  English  trader  is 
so  much  of  a  buUy,  that  he  needs  looking  after ;  and,  putting 
out  of  the  question  the  national  duty  of  the  strong  to  protect 
the  weak,  we  think  that  the  amount  of  trade*  already  developed 


*  The  Anniial  Trade  Betums  pre- 
sented to  Parliament  show  that  the 
declared,  value  of  British  and  Irish 
produce  and  manufactures  exported 


to  the  West  Coast  of  Africa^  arranged 
in  periods  of  five  years  each,  has  be^i 
as  foUows : — 


Exports  from  Great  Britain. 

£  £ 

1846-50      2,773,408,  or  a  yearly  average  of  554.681 

1851-55      4,314,752,          „                 „  862^950 

1856-60      5,582,941,          „                  „  1.116,588 

1861-63      4,216,045,          „                 „  1.405,348 


Imports. 


The  same  Trade  Returns  show  that 
the  imports  of  A&ican  produce  from 
the  West  Coast  into  Great  Britiiin  have 

Official  value     ..     ..     1851^5 

Computed  real  value  /  ^^^^"^ 

I  1861-63 

The  value  of  African  produce  has 
decreased  during  the  last  three  years 
in  consequence  of  the  discovery  of  the 
petroleum  or  rock-oil  in  America.  In 
1864  between  4000  and  5000  bales  of 
cotton  were  shipped  to  England. 

It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  under 
the  system  wliich  existed  when  Sierra 


been  as  follows.  The  **  official  value  *' 
is  given  before  1856,  after  that  date 
the  *•  computed  real  value"  is  given : — 

£  £ 

..  4,154,725;  average  830,945 
..  9,376,251;  „  1,875.250 
..     6,284,611;      ^       1,761,537 


Leone,  the  Gambia,  and  Gold  Coast 
settlements  were  maintained  for  the 
promotion  of  the  slave-trade,  the  lawfol 
commerce  was  only  20,0002.  annually ; 
and  that  now  the  amount  of  tonnage 
employed  in  carrying  legal  merchan- 
dise is  greater  than  was  ever  engaged 
in  carrying  slaves. 


Chap.  XXIX.    MORTALITY  ON  THE  WEST  COAST.  605 

by  Lord  Palmeraton's  policy  on  the  West  Coast  demands  the 
continuance  of  that  policy  in  unabated  strictness. 

The  Report  of  Colonel  Ord, — the  Commissioner  appointed  to 
inquire  into  the  condition  of  the  British  Settlements  on  the 
West  Coast  of  Africa, — which  was  ordered  to  be  printed  by 
the  House  of  Commons,  29th  Marcli,  1865,  says :  "  As  re- 
gards the  slave-trade,  it  is  a  well  established  fact  that  it  has 
disappeared  from  the  neighbourhood  of  every  spot  on  the 
West  Coast  which  has  been  made  a  British  settlement ;  the 
distance  to  which  it  has  been  removed  depending  in  a  great 
measure  on  the  extent  to  which  the  authorities  of  the  Settle- 
ment have  been  able  to  make  their  influence  felt  Nor 
need  this  statement  be  limited  to  British  territory,  the  Dutch 
and  Danish  possessions  on  the  Gold  Coast,  and  the  Bepublic 
of  Liberia,  having  been  equally  the  means  of  banishing  the 
traffic  from  their  vicinity  "  (p.  28). 

Although  it  is  a  little  apart  from  the  point  to  which  our 
observations  tend,  and  we  would  not  willingly  be  thought 
indifferent  to  the  loss  of  even  a  single  human  life,  it  is  desir- 
able that  it  should  be  more  widely  known  than  it  is,  that  the 
employment  of  our  squadron  does  not  now  involve  the 
mortality  that  it  once  did.  The  men  are  not  so  much 
employed  in  the  rivers  as  formerly;  condensed  water  has 
been  brought  into  common  use,  and  the  treatment  of  fever  is 
better  understood.  In  our  own  experience,  instead  of  bleeding, 
as  was  the  practice,  we  found  an  aperient  combined  with  quinine 
80  efficacious,  that  an  attack  of  fever  was  generally  not  much 
worse  than  a  common  cold,  and  no  strength  wa&  lost  by  the 
patient.  Somewhat  similar  treatment  has  reduced  the  rate 
of  mortality  in  H.  M.  Ships  on  the  Coast  of  Africa  lower 
than  on  the  West  Indies  and  North  American  Station.* 


*  The  following  table  dhowa  the 
ratio  per  1000  of  mean  force,  at  the 


from  all  diseases  and  injuries*  of  in- 
▼alidings,  and  of  deaths : — 


diiferent  Stations,  of  men  daily  sick  I  Stations. 


606 


WEST  COAST  MISSIONS. 


Chap.  XXIX. 


We  certainly  never  met  with  any  benevolent  person  who 
lavished  all  his  charity  abroad,  and  refused  to  extend  a 
kind  and  helping  hand  to  the  children  of  sin  and  sorrow 
at  home.  Indeed  we  consider  his  existence  to  be  a  mere  fig- 
ment in  the  brain  of  croakers,  whose  own  benevolence  shines 
nowhere.  So  we  anticipate  no  objection  from  those  who  are 
most  alive  to  the  pressing  wants  of  the  home  population 
to  our  quoting  with  pride  the  Missionary  Societies  which  are 
at  work  on  the  West  Coast  of  Africa.  The  societies  are  sixteen 
in  number.  Of  these  six  are  British,  seven  American,  two 
German,  and  one  West  Indian.  These  societies  maintain  104 
European  or  American  Missionaries,  have  110  stations,  13,000 
scholars  in  286  schools,  and  19,000  roistered  communicctnts, 
a  number  which  probably  represents  a  Christian  population  of 
60,000. 

It  is  particularly  pleasing  to  see  the  zeal  of  our  American 
brethren;  they  show  the  natural  influences  and  effects  of 
our  Holy  Religion.  With  the  genuine  and  true-hearted  it  is 
never  a  question  of  distance,  but  of  need.    The  Americans 


STATIONa 


Home     ..     .•     .• 

Mediterranean      

Korth  America  and  Weet  Indies 

Brazils 

Pacific 

West  Coast  of  Africa 

Gape  of  Good  Hope     

East  Indies  and  China 

Australia       

Irregular  Force 


Batio 

fer  1000  of  men 

sick  daily. 


48 

61- 

60' 

43 

68 


1 

8 
4 
4 
9 


62  0 
76-7 
86-7 
400 
77-4 


B&tio 

Sir  1000  of 
vaUdings. 


2 
4 
2 
7 
2 


31 

45 

36- 

27 

86 

380 

.31-3 

61- 

28- 

26 


6 
4 
5 


Batio 

per  1000  of 

deaths. 


9 
10 
42 
16 

7 


6 
4 
1 
1 
9 


341 


18 
26 
13 
10 


1 
1 
7 
4 


**  No  detailed  information  has  been 
obtained  respecting  the  loss  by  death 
of  the  civil  servants  of  the  €k>vemment 
on  the  West  Coast;  but  it  may  be 
stated  that  the  loss  of  life  from  climate 
amongst  this  class  is  by  no  means 
large.    The  fitcility  with  which  offi- 


cers of  aU  the  Services  who  suffer 
to  any  dangerous  extent  from  disease 
are  permitted  to  return  home  on 
sick  leave,  must  operate  to  diminish 
considerably  the  number  of  fatal 
cases/*  —  Beport  of  CoUmd  Ord^ 
p.  30. 


Chap.  XXIX.       COLONEL  ORD  ON  SETTLEMENTS.  607 

make  capital  Missionaries ;  and  it  is  only  a  bare  act  of  justice 
to  say  that  their  labours  and  success  on  the  West  Coast  are 
above  all  praise.  And  not  on  that  shore  alone  does  their 
benevolence  shine.  In  India,  China,  South  Seas,  Sjrria, 
South  Africa,  and  their  own  far  West,  they  have  proved 
themselves  worthy  children  of  the  old  country — the  asylum 
for  the  oppressed  of  every  nation — ^the  source  of  light  for  all 
lands. 

Now  that  we  have  given  but  a  faint  outline  of  what  has 
been  done  on  the  West  Coast,  we  ask  with  what  face  can  the 
Portuguese  shut  some  900  miles  of  the  East  Coast  from  these 
civilizing  and  humanizing  influences.  Looking  at  the  lawful 
trade  which  has  been  developed  in  one  section  of  Africa,  is 
it  to  be  endured  by  the  rest  of  the  world  that  most  of  a 
continent  so  rich  and  fertile  should  be  doomed  to  worse  than 
sterility  till  the  Spaniards  and  Portuguese  learn  to  abandon 
their  murderous  traffic  in  man?  When  these  effete  nations 
speak  of  their  famous  ancestors  they  tacitly  admit  that  the 
same  sort  of  mental  stagnation  has  fallen  on  themselves  as 
on  the  Africans  and  others ;  the  United  States  would  confer 
a  blessing  on  Spain  and  tear  away  much  of  the  veil  that 
blinds  her,  by  annexing  Cuba ;  and  England  would  perform 
a  noble  service  to  Portugal  by  ignoring  those  pretences  to 
dominion  on  the  East  Coast,  by  which,  for  the  sake  of  mere 
swagger  in  Europe,  she  secures  for  herself  the  worst  name  in 
Christendom.  As  we  have  mentioned,  the  more  enlightened 
Lisbon  statesmen  would  fain  effect  by  an  English  mercantile 
company  what  has  been  accomplished  elsewhere  by  English 
philanthropy,  protected  by  English  cruisers.  Here,  on  the 
East  Coast^  not  a  single  native  has  been  taught  to  read,  not 
one  branch  of  trade  has  been  developed,  and  wherever  Portu- 
guese power,  or  rather  intrigue,  extends,  we  have  that  traffic 
in  full  force  which  may  be  said  to  reverse  every  law  of  Christ, 
and  to  defy  the  vengeance  of  Heaven. 

All  the  efforts  of  England  for  its  permanent  suppression 


608  EXPEDITIONS  AND  SEITLEMENTS.      Chap.  XXIX. 

are  nullified  by  a  few  convicts  and  needy  Portuguese  Gover- 
nors, who  in  no  case  have  authority  to  the  extent  of  their 
unaided  vision  from  their  forts.  If  East  Africa  is  still  to  be 
used  only  for  convicts,  why  should  not  the  English  send 
theirs  thither  too?  It  does  not  belong  to  the  Portuguese 
any  more  than  China  belongs  to  them  because  they  possess 
Hacaa  Bad  as  our  convicts  are,  they  would  be  an  improve- 
ment on  those  already  sent  Neither  oflScers  nor  men  would 
deal  in  slaves.  The  climate  certainly  mollifies  and  subdues 
the  passions.  This  we  observed  at  Loando,  where  every  night 
the  whole  of  the  arms  of  the  city  are  in  the  hands  of  men 
who  have  once  been  convicts.  The  subject  deserves  con- 
sideration, in  the  present  difficulty  of  disposing  of  our  convict 
population. 

In  the  able  Report  of  Colonel  Ord  it  is  stated,  that  while 
the  presence  of  the  squadron  has  had  some  share  in  suppress- 
ing the  slave-trade,  the  result  is  mainly  due  to  the  existence 
of  the  Settlements.  This  is  supported  by  the  fact  that,  even 
in  those  least  visited  by  men-of-war,  it  has  been  as  effectually 
suppressed  as  in  those  which  have  been  their  most  constant 
resort.  We  have  continually  had  the  conviction  in  our 
minds  that  an  expedition  or  settlement  inland  would  produce 
greater  results  than  men-of-war  on  the  ocean,  and  be  upheld 
with  half  the  expense  of  one  of  Her  Majesty's  cruisers. 


THE  END. 


LOMDOM:  FRniTKD  BT  W.  CLOWm  AK1>  80N8,  STAMirORD  flTERKr. 

AKD  OHARIKO  CROA. 


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